The Chips That Rebooted the Mac - WSJ
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The Chips That Rebooted the Mac

Apple’s risky, yearslong effort to design its own silicon paid off when supply-chain disruptions left competitors scrambling

The latest MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are powered by Apple's M1 chip, so they run cooler and quieter than their counterparts with Intel inside. So what does it take to rev their fans? WSJ's Joanna Stern tries to turn up the heat with some punishing tests. Photo illustration: Preston Jessee for The Wall Street Journal

Apple Inc. had a problem. While its iPhones were flying off shelves, sales of Mac computers were stagnating. Customers weren’t thrilled with their design or performance.

Five years later, Mac sales are soaring. The turnaround is due to an unusual, yearslong effort to build one of the world’s most advanced chip-design operations inside the world’s best-known gadget maker.

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