You don’t have to follow Apple particularly closely to know that it’s in control, from the components it puts in its hardware to the companies that make them. Intel is a company that Apple has tried to keep out of its Mac lineup for years, and with one new notebook, it’s succeeded. It may seem insignificant, but it’s emblematic of a philosophy that gives users features and benefits that are uniquely Apple.
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The Mac in question is the brand new M2 MacBook Air. The M2 part refers to the system-on-chip (SoC) that powers the device. Think of it as the CPU, GPU, and more, all under one roof. It's designed by Apple, which gives the company complete control over every aspect, and that's important. The migration from Intel to its own silicon has taken a few years and is still not complete, but Apple is moving on. The world's most popular notebook now has zero Intel chips. The last thing left was one small component: a USB and Thunderbolt controller, and now those are gone.
“By owning the full stack, [Apple] can develop its hardware and software roadmap in close collaboration with the silicon team, enabling products to have exclusive features and capabilities that competitors don’t have, and delivering core user experiences that are unique to Apple products,” Ben Bajarin, CEO and Principal Analyst of Creative Strategies, told Lifewire via direct message.
Apple’s quest to control every component that goes into its machines makes sense for a number of reasons. Apple prefers to own the entire stack, from hardware to software to services. People buy Macs powered by Apple silicon; they run Apple software on those Macs, and they use Apple services like iCloud, Apple Music, and others. It’s a level of integration that few others can compete with.
