But Apple's CPUs are so powerful because they have lots and lots of cache compared to most ARM SoCs. I'm not saying they can't release a Mac with ARM under the hood (they probably will), but I don't see it setting a trend for ARM desktops elsewhere.
Apple can use a lot of cache in their CPU designs because they can charge a lot for their hardware (L1/L2 cache is very expensive). But the rest of the market can't since they're mostly selling commodity hardware — with commodity chips — and price is a very sensitive point there.
So Apple could in theory make and sell plenty of Premium ARM laptops with performant x86 compatibility for older software while being fast and cool for native apps while the Windows/Linux competitors will be still lagging way behind with a poor user experience.
Apple can use a lot of cache in their CPU designs because they can charge a lot for their hardware (L1/L2 cache is very expensive). But the rest of the market can't since they're mostly selling commodity hardware — with commodity chips — and price is a very sensitive point there.
So Apple could in theory make and sell plenty of Premium ARM laptops with performant x86 compatibility for older software while being fast and cool for native apps while the Windows/Linux competitors will be still lagging way behind with a poor user experience.