A Wintel-branded vendor noted that the MacBook Air will take market share from other high-end laptops in the $1,000 to $1,500 price point. (Where “Wintel” refers to Windows laptops with Intel processors.) Sales of Wintel’s high-end models will face more challenges as consumer confidence wanes due to inflation and the economic downturn.

The new M2 MacBook Air, which starts at $1,199 in the U.S. (and starts at 9,499 yuan in China), has an 18 percent higher CPU performance and 35 percent higher GPU graphics performance than the M1 chip in previous models. Apple said the new M2 MacBook Air will be available in July, with an order date expected to be announced soon.

In 2020, Apple announced the transition of its Mac product line from Intel processors to its own custom-designed Apple Silicon chips and announced industry-leading performance per watt. That transition is now almost complete, with the only remaining Mac mini sold that has not yet been converted and the Mac Pro tower, both of which are also expected to be updated to Apple Silicon chips later this year.

Apple’s own chips have been a game changer for the Mac lineup as well. in 2020, benchmarks showed that the $999 MacBook Air with the M1 chip outperformed the $2,999 Intel-based 16-inch MacBook Pro. likewise, the M2 chip was faster than the 8-core Intel Xeon W in the base model Mac Pro tower processor, which starts at a whopping $5,999.

Last year, Intel ran ads promoting Windows PCs for Macs and even recruited former “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long to participate in the campaign. Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger also said that Intel will “work hard” to “win back” Apple’s business.