Apple has been making its own ARM-based processors for installation in Macs for over a year and a half, and according to a new report, the company now dominates the PC market for ARM-powered silicon.
This report from analyst firm Strategy Analytics, brought to you by Tom's Hardware(opens in a new tab), shows just how dominant Apple has become for ARM chips in PCs, with the company earning nearly 90% of revenue from this market in 2021.
In total, when it comes to the global PC market, Strategy Analytics estimates that ARM-based machines now make up 9% of existing hardware.
Who are the main competitors in this space for Apple? There are Chromebooks with ARM chips inside, as well as various Windows laptops on ARM (with Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC) that have been around for a few years, but not in large numbers.
Sravan Kundojjala, Director of Mobile Phone Component Technologies at Strategy Analytics and author of the report, observed: "Apple's M-series family of processors has set the benchmark and has given Apple a 2-3 advantage years above the rest ARM-based processors PC processor vendors Qualcomm captured just 3% revenue share in the ARM-based laptop processor market in 2021 and lags behind Apple in processor performance.
Analysis: Full steam ahead, except supply issues could muddy the waters
When M1-powered MacBooks burst onto the scene in late 2020, the big difference with these compared to other ARM-based laptops was the really impressive performance of Apple's SoC, compared to Windows laptops on ARM, which they are relatively weak in terms of grunt.
Apple has moved forward with its own processors that are used in several Macs (the Mac mini and iMac, as well as the best MacBooks and the best laptops in general) and recently released the M2 chip, the next-generation offering to keep the momentum going. .
And as we can see from this report, so far that push has caused big changes in the laptop market, Apple's strategy of ditching Intel for its own silicon is already paying off.
While it's great that Apple is in control of not just the hardware, but also the software side of the equation, with Rosetta, the translation technology that allows its ARM processors to run x86 software (written for Intel chips), being a part key to the whole puzzle here.
While we can expect Apple to go further with its ARM-based Macs and new M2 chip-equipped MacBooks, the only concern that could rock the ship and tarnish future sales prospects is how big of a factor the disruption could be. lockdown in China. be in terms of interfering with future production and shipping numbers.
After all, we're already hearing about delays for the new 13-inch MacBook Pro (M2, 2022) and have seen availability issues around the 14-inch MacBook Pro (2021) and 16-inch MacBook Pro (2021). . .
Also, the new MacBook Air doesn't have a confirmed release date yet, with Apple only telling us that it will arrive sometime in July, so there are a number of concerns about stock levels floating around.
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