Apple Silicon Evolution (vs Intel Core i9) over the years

Apple came a long way from a simple chip that powers the first iPad. Here a general look how Apple Silicon fare over the years Posted by erwinkarim on 4:16 PM, October 1, 2022 Last updated on 4:35 PM, November 4, 2023 Filed in: appple silicon, m1, m1 pro, m1 max, m1 ultra, m2, intel, i9, comparison,

Table of Contents

Healthy competition is always good for everyone because it brings the drive for people to be the best version of oneself. Intel is a dominant player in the microprocessor market. Dominance is so high that you basically get what Intel gives for a very high price. The smartphone revolution has changed that and with billions and billions of dollars of research went into making the most powerful hand computers ever known to man, we are now in the age where modified versions of mobile microprocessors can compete and beat out processors that are meant to be use on laptops and sometimes desktop.

Leading this charge is Apple who in the past decade has been constantly making the most powerful and efficient mobile processor on the market that is powering their best selling products: iPhones and iPads. Their derivatives also make billions of dollars for Apple such as the AirPods, Apple Watch, Apple TV and HomePods.

At WWDC 2020, Apple announced that they are moving away from Intel for their Macs and started to use their own solution called Apple Silicon, which is a scaled up version of the mobile processors. This document tracks the evolution of the Apple Silicon over time and compares it with contemporary mobile / desktop chips on the market, such as from Intel and AMD.

Apple Silicon Overview

Apple Silicon is Apple’s scaled up version of microprocessor that used to run on mobile platforms like the iPad and iPhones which are now used to run all of their Macs. Apple Silicon was first announced in June 2020 during WWDC presentation and their first products were unveiled in a November 2020 event. The first Apple Silicon is called the M1 which was used in MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac Mini.

However, as of October 2022, the only holdout is the Mac Pro which is a low volume workstation Mac that still runs on Intel’s server-grade processor Xeon.

Intel Mobile Platform Overview

In personal computing, be it laptops or desktop, Intel is the microprocessor king. Despite having lost Apple as a major client, PCs are outselling Macs by a ratio of 9:1 and Intel has consistently outselling their major competitor AMD by a ratio of 2:1.

Intel’s biggest misstep is not taking the smartphone revolution which at one point, Apple actually asked Intel to develop a chip for mobile phones. How things would change if Intel actually delivered.

Despite many of Intel’s solutions shortcomings (the chips are power hungry, runs very hot), many still choose Intel and x86 platforms because many businesses still relies on Microsoft Windows and Linux. This is further boosted by game developers who choose Windows/Intel over Macs because of the bigger market share.

The Evolution

Year Apple SiliconIntel
Mid 2020
    A12Z in Mac Mini DTK
  • First announcement of Macs moving to Apple Silicon
  • Introduces a Development Transition Kit. A Mac Mini with A12Z chip (that was used in 2020 iPad Pro) but running macOS. Not meant for production
    Intel Core i9-10980HK
  • Top of the line mobile chip from Intel
  • 8-cores hyperthreading, Intel UHD 630 graphics, 45W TDP
  • Up to 128 GB RAM support
  • Retails at $583
Late 2020
    M1
  • First official Apple Silicon
  • First Macs to run Apple Silicon: Mac Mini, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air
  • 4 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores, 16 neural cores, 8 graphic cores, 5nm, Apple Fabric
    Tiger Lake Cores Introduced
  • Marketed at 11th Generation Intel Core. Based on Willow Cove microarchitecture
  • 10nm SuperFin process
  • Intel Xe-LP Graphics
  • Image Processing Unit
Mid 2021
    M1 Pro / M1 Max
  • First "professional" Apple Silicon
  • Updates the MacBook Pro
  • M1 Pro: 10 compute cores, 16 neural cores, 16 graphic cores
  • M1 Max: same like M1 Pro but has 32 graphic cores instead of 16 and extra Media Engine
  • Introduces Media Engine for hardware accelerate video encoder / decoder
    Intel Core i9-11980HK released
  • 11th generation top mobile processor
  • 8-cores hyperthreading, Intel UHD Graphics, TDP from 45W to 65W
  • 128GB RAM Support
  • Retails at $538
Early 2022
    M1 Ultra
  • First desktop Apple Silicon
  • Appeared on Mac Studio
  • 2x M1 Max linked via Ultra Fabric, so 20 compute cores, 32 neural cores, 64 graphic cores
    Alder Lake Cores Launched
  • Introduces Performance and Efficiency Cores
  • Thread director to tell OS which cores to use
  • Introduce Xe integrated graphics
  • Built on Intel 7 (10nm Enhanced SuperFIN)
  • LPDDR5 memory support
  • ThunderBolt 4 and WiFi 6E support
Mid 2022
    M2
  • First update on the M1
  • 10 compute cores, 16 neural cores, 10 graphic cores
  • Still 5nm
  • Include Media Engine to process ProRes video files
    Intel Core i9-12950HX
  • Top of the line mobile
  • First Intel chip with hybrid cores: 8 performance cores + 8 efficiency cores
  • Intel Xe Graphics
  • First to support DDR5 memory, memory support up to 128 GB
  • New manufacturing process: Intel 7
  • Variable power usage from 55W to 157W!!
  • Retails at $590
Early 2023
    M2 Pro / M2 Max
  • Announced in mid-January 2023
  • 2nd generation 5nm manufacturing process
  • 40 billion transistors for M1 Pro and 67 billion for M2 Max
  • 12 CPU cores (10 performance / 2 efficiency)
  • 19 GPU cores for M2 Pro / 38 GPU cores for M2 Max
  • Faster 16-core Neural Engine
  • 2nd generation 5nm manufacturing
  • 32 GB memory support for M2 Pro, 96 GB memory support for M2 Max
  • 8K Display support
    Intel Core i9-13980HX
  • Announced during CES 2023 as the world's fastest mobile chip
  • 16 performance cores + 8 efficiancy cores. running at 5.60 GHz (4.00 GHz for efficiency cores). 32 threads at the same time
  • Intel 7
  • 128 GB memory support. Also supports DDR5
  • UHD graphics with 8K support
  • TDP: 55w upto 157w
  • Retails at $680
Mid 2023
    M2 Ultra
  • Announced during WWDC '23
  • Two M2 Max chip connected together via UltraFusion bridge
  • 24 CPU cores (20 performance / 4 efficiency)
  • 76 GPU cores for M2 Ultra
  • 32-core Neural Engine
  • 192 GB memory support
  • 8K display support. Can support up to six Apple Pro Display XDR (6K display)
  • Supports over 22 simultaneous 8K ProRes RAW stream
Late 2023
    M3 Family - M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max
  • Announced during October 2023 event
  • 3 major chips announced during the event -> M3 (base), M3 Pro (mid-range), and M3 Max (high-end mobile)
  • 25 billion transistors for M3, 37 billion for M3 Pro, and up to 92 billion for M3 Max
  • First 3nm chip by TSMC for mobile/desktop application
  • Modest CPU improvement, focus is on graphic performance
  • Updated graphic cores, with hardware accelerated mesh shader and ray tracing
  • Dynamic caching to improve memory usage with multiple applications
  • CPU Core counts: M3 (8 - 4p + 4e), M3 Pro (12 - 6p + 6e), 16 (8p + 4e)
  • GPU Core counts: M3 (10), M3 Pro (18), M3 Max (40)
  • M3 Pro supports 18 or 36 GB of memory while M3 Max starts at 32GB up to 128GB memory support
  • Improved 16-core Neural Engine across the board
  • Media engine with AV1 codec support
    Intel Core i9-14900K
  • 8 Performance / 16 Efficiency Cores
  • 3.2/6.0 GHz for P-cores, 2.4/4.4GHz for E-cores
  • 125 to 253 W TDP
    Intel Core Ultra
  • Announced during Intel Innovation Day in September
  • Codename Meteor Lake
  • First Intel 4 manufacutring process
  • Tile based design

Performance Over Time

Intel refreshes their lineup every 12 months. Apple being a niche player in the personal computing space updates their entire line up every 18 months. So in generation, Intel generation on generation improvements is marginal while Apple has a bigger gap.

Apple has three main advantages over Intel:

  • Power Efficiency: Being designed as a mobile chipset, power efficiency is everything in Apple Silicon. Consumer chips like the M1 and M2 peaks at 10W and idle in single digits which enable Apple to create passively cooled laptops. Intel does have low wattage models in their line up but performance does not even hold a candle against Apple watt-for-watt.

  • Integrated Graphics: This also goes hand in hand with our third point. But lessons learned from their iPhone projects enables Apple to create a chip with power integrated graphics. Because of Intel’s weak integrated graphics, Intel has to rely on 3rd party solutions like Nvidia and others, which results in overall higher system power usage

  • Ecosystem: Design philosophy is clearly different because of how both companies work. Intel is a chip merchant and while they do market study they tend to include the kitchen sink, so every instruction or feature imaginable would be there whether you use it or not. Apple on the other hand has total vertical control of the product so some features they don’t want to support would not be in the chip itself. The Apple Silicon team has only 1 customer: the CEO of Apple.

While Apple has these features, let’s not discount Intel just yet. They still have their advantages

  • Market Share: Right now, in personal computing and server space, the x86 still reigns supreme. This means that a lot of programs out there are still optimized for the x86 architecture. This is most prevalent in gaming titles. Gaming is a big business now where some AAA titles cost $100s of millions to produce. And the situation in Mac gaming is a catch-22: there’s not much gaming titles because the market is small, the market is small because there’s not many gaming titles.

  • Performance drive: Performance at all cost ensures that Intel chips will be championed by enthusiasts and business users alike. Yes, an Intel chip that is optimized will outperform an Apple Silicon chip in raw power. But that Intel machine will be more power hungry and bulkier, a fact that somehow does not affect a majority of power users.

  • Business Focus: Apple is into a lot of things, but they are not a chip merchant. There are pluses and minuses in Apple’s approach. Intel, on the other hand, is a full fledge chip merchant which entire business is selling microprocessors. Apple might have more engineers than Intel, but all of Intel engineers are focused on making microprocessors. One big differentor of Intel is the update cycle. For Apple to update from M1 to M2, Intel has released two generations of their flagship chip. Right now Apple might have the leg up into things, but in the future, who knows?


The M1 smashes the best 10th generation Intel Core so hard that they have to fight back with a bang. The M1 Ultra desktop class performance is something to strive for.

Single core performance is a game of leap frog. Note that by the time Apple take to go from M1 to M2, Intel has already released two generations of Core i9. So for Apple to keep up, each generational leap must be significant.

Apple's internal graphic is second to none. Intel solutions relies on 3rd party such as Nvidia.

Conclusion

In terms of raw performance, Apple Silicon is surprisingly competitive and on occasion, can beat an established company like Intel. Ecosystem is also a great feature of Apple Silicon that will be Apple’s trump card in the future.

Intel on the other hand, is a veteran player and does know how to fight when the competition and setbacks kicks in. AMD, Cyrix, x86-64, Itanium, Meltdown, Qualcomm, Apple and Samsung are issues and competition that Intel has to fight off over the years and so far, Intel does not seem to be on the verge of collapse. Being at the top of the game for so long takes skills and a little bit of luck.

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Base Pro
iPhones iPhone 15 / iPhone 15 Plus (Renewed) - (Amazon) iPhone 15 Pro / iPhone 15 Pro Max (Renewed) - (Amazon)
Watch Apple Watch SE (Amazon) / Apple Watch Series 9 (Amazon) Apple Watch Ultra 2 (Amazon)
AirPods AirPods 3 (Amazon) AirPods Pro 2 (Amazon) / AirPods Max (Amazon)
iPad iPad 9 (Amazon) / iPad Mini (Amazon) iPad Air (Amazon) / iPad Pro M2 (Amazon)
Laptops MacBook Air M3 (Amazon) MacBook Pro M3
Desktop Mac Mini (Amazon) / iMac (Amazon) Mac Studio / Mac Pro
Displays Studio Display (Amazon) Pro Display XDR (Amazon)

Other Ecosystem Items

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