Generation gaps: How much faster Apple Silicon gets with each release
Apple Silicon speed has steadily improved since the debut in 2020. Here's how much faster Apple has made its chips in just four years.
After a mis-spent youth in the '80s as a service tech and salesperson at a now-closed Apple dealership, AppleInsider's Mike Wuerthele spent nearly a decade in the US Navy through the '90s as a submarine reactor chemist, where he routinely had to suffer through two Captains on the USS Hyman G Rickover (SSN-709) "borrowing" his MacWeek magazines before he got a chance to read them.
During his time in the Navy as a nuclear reactor water chemist, Mike was also instrumental in migrating the submarine fleet into the computer age, and assisted the US Army with its PowerMac G3 program. At the tail-end of his Navy service, he proposed a variant of the PowerMac G3 server program for the assorted military shipyards.
After his exit from the Navy, Mike spent 11 years in federal service as a commercial tech analyst, worked in an assortment of independent dealers, and supported a large swathe of Apple customers in the Washington DC area.
In 2012, he parlayed his experience discussing Apple and other tech companies with the federal government into a gig at MacNN and its sister site Electronista in 2012. Following the closure of those publications in July 2016, Mike moved over to AppleInsider as a content contributor. He is now the Managing Editor of AppleInsider.
Apple Silicon speed has steadily improved since the debut in 2020. Here's how much faster Apple has made its chips in just four years.
Prospective Republican vice president nominee J.D. Vance attacked Apple with accusations of the iPhone maker using Chinese slave labor. Unsurprisingly, he's incredibly wrong, and a five-minute Google search would have made that clear.
Microsoft's push into AI-centric notebooks isn't great for gamers, as they can't play most of their games on the ARM-based chips inside the latest Copilot+ PCs. This is a problem that will be beneficial to Apple Silicon gaming.
So far, the only Apple hardware with the M4 chip is the iPad Pro — but Macs getting upgrades is inevitable. Here's when you can expect every Mac in the lineup to catch up.
A British man is ridiculously attempting to sue Apple following a divorce, caused by his wife finding messages to a prostitute he deleted from his iPhone that were still accessible on an iMac.
A new and mandatory terms of service approval for Adobe Creative Cloud requires users agree to the company getting free access to users' projects, for whatever they want to do with it. That's unacceptable.
Social media banter between leakers confirms that it's possible to buy cases for the iPhone 16 now. It's a really bad idea, though.
A new report claims that Apple's current schedule doesn't include updates to its Mac Pro and Mac Studio machines until the middle of 2025.
Apple is months away from launching the A18 chip in the iPhone 16 Pro. Apple's M4 can tell us a lot about what to expect from that chip, and maybe, a M3 Ultra.
Apple's iPad lineup is now radically different than it was at this time in 2023. Here's how to choose the best tablet to buy for your budget.
Two years after the last update, Apple has introduced the sixth-generation iPad Air with the M2 processor and a new size. Here's how they compare on paper.
The iPad is being used for an unusual purpose in the Ukraine-Russia conflict — they're helping the Ukraine Air Force use modern weapons on older fighter jets.
Ming-Chi Kuo says Apple has reduced its orders for Apple Vision Pro parts and assemblies, with the cut in shipments said to indicate lower demand for Apple's headset than previously thought.
The new rumor that the iPhone 16 Pro could start with 256GB of storage across the board is a logical extrapolation, but has been made by a one-time serial leaker with a record for falsehoods.
An issue preventing some external drives from mounting onto a Mac running macOS Sonoma has plagued users for months, and it probably was caused by changes Apple made to drive handling.
Over four years after its debut, Apple Arcade has beaten the expectations of critics, and Apple Arcade chief Alex Rofman believes Apple's strategy for the service will continue to do so for a while longer.
Upgraders to iOS 17 are likely seeing deeper iPhone battery drains today. This is normal behavior, and everything should stabilize within a week.
Owners of the iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro are complaining about battery health — but it's not at all clear yet if this is an actual issue. AppleInsider looks at the data.
While Apple embraced Thunderbolt 3 eGPU technology for years, it doesn't have the same love for the upgrade option for its Macs since the launch of Apple Silicon. Here's how Apple's relationship with eGPUs started, matured, died — and could come back.
As a result of a ruling in the Epic versus Apple legal battle, Apple must allow developers to include alternate purchase links in apps on the App Store — but Apple prevailed in most other counts.
The GigaDrive Pro is billed as the "world's fastest" external SSD. While it just barely falls short of that lofty claim, it is close, and it is a drive that can easily help increase storage capacity for Mac video editors.
If you want to upgrade your Intel-based portable Mac, but don't want a large box on your desk, the Sonnet eGPU Breakaway Puck RX 5700 is a good choice — today.
The SanDisk Ultra Dual Drive Luxe USB Type-C Flash Drive aims to not just be an external file support solution for the iPad Pro, but also for your older USB-A gear, with a splash of style.
Complaints about the potential lifespan of Apple Silicon Mac storage are causing concern that the current crop of M1 Macs could stop working within a few years — and have been stoked by unanswered questions, unreliable data, and a silent Apple.
The WD My Passport SSD is an inexpensive and reasonable way to upgrade storage on your MacBook Pro, packed into a stylish and compact casing you can carry around anywhere.
{{ summary }}