Game, Set, Match? (Premium)

Well, it finally happened: Apple today confirmed that it will transition away from Intel’s microprocessors and to its own A-series chipsets. I wish I could be cynical about this transition and tell you that it’s all about control and has nothing to do with the relative performance of the chipsets in any of its products, and is, in other words, classic Apple.

But I can’t, and I won’t. What Apple is doing here in some ways is classic Apple, but not in a negative way. Yes, there is an element of control: By owning both the hardware and the software in all of its products, Apple can wield more control over its customers and the developers that support them. But it can also deliver truly integrated products in which the hardware and software are optimized for each other.

Put another way, by seizing control of the chipsets that drive its devices, Apple is providing the same benefits on the Mac that it does on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch. And those benefits are hard to refute. That it is doing so without appearing to compromise the user experience is, of course, the most impressive part of this announcement. And the most damaging and embarrassing to Microsoft, which has struggled to make Windows 10 on ARM viable.

The two approaches---Apple’s and Microsoft’s---are likewise representative of the respective companies. Apple goes it alone and waits until something is ready before it delivers anything to customers. Microsoft partners on everything---it literally has three chipset makers with which it is making customized processors now---and ships early, buggy, and even broken solutions to early adopters and then refines and improves over time.

Even the most diehard Microsoft fans would likely agree at this point that Apple’s approach is the better choice. Windows 10 on ARM came stumbling out of the gate with massive performance and compatibility issues. And today, a few years later, the very latest hardware running the very latest software still has performance and compatibility problems that would be deal-breakers for almost any mainstream users.

When we learned that Apple was plotting a path to ARM as well, we speculated about the various ways in which they might make this transition, from slowly and partially to fully and quickly. I referred to these choices as a spectrum of possibilities. Well, now we know what they are doing. And for the Microsoft fan, it is the worst-case scenario. Apple is making this transition fully. And they are doing so quickly.

So here’s the question for us all. When Apple completes this transition in its stated two-year timeline, will the Mac on Apple Silicon out-do Windows 10 on ARM? Or can Microsoft catch up, in part by allowing 64-bit Intel x64 apps on WOA, and in part by solving the driver compatibility problem?

We have two years to find out. But in the meantime, I have more to write: I’ll weigh in more deeply on Apple’s macOS moves this evening when I've had to chance t...