why was the M1 chip so revolutionary? What did it do that combined power with efficiency so well that couldn’t be done before?

Question

I ask this because when M1 Mac’s came I felt we were entering a new era of portable PCs: fast, lightweight and with a long awaited good battery life.

I just saw the announcement of the Snapdragon X Plus, which is looking like a response to the M chips, and I am seeing a lot of buzz around it, so I ask: what is so special about it?

In: Technology

Answer 1

It’s not that it’s revolutionary as such, it’s just that Apple could extract comparable performance per core than the fastest Intel processors while using 4-5 times less power. How did they do it? Spending more money per core helped, but most of all it was because their design prioritized low power consumption.