Your next laptop could get wild – if Intel's new chip can finally beat Apple

Intel has announced performance metrics for its upcoming 14A silicon process node in San Jose. The Intel Foundry's aim is Apple silicon, and most particularly, Apple's M4 chip. The company is seeing both performance and power efficiency improvements but has yet to launch a chip that competes on both metrics.

However, this may change soon. In the fall, Intel is expected to launch its first chips using the 18A process, and in 2027, the company is set to unleash its A14 process which helps it achieve increased power and efficiency.

Now, the 14A silicon process node's performance metrics are looking quite promising, and may bring Intel closer to competing better with Apple's first-party chips.

Basically, the Intel 14A is a silicon wafer process node operating at 1.4 nanometers for its smallest component. When you have smaller transistors on a wafer, this generally means you can make faster chips. Right now, the current computer hardware is generally constructed using 3nm to 5nm wafers.

And yep, a chip made with a 1.4nm wafer is significantly faster than one made with a 3nm process.

Well, what does this mean in numbers? According to Intel's testing and projections, the 14A process will give 25-35% better power consumption than the upcoming 18A process (which uses a 1.8nm process node).

Also, the 14A chips are also likely to experience a 15-20% performance per watt increase over the 18A ones. Intel is also planning to include some new features with the 14A node, like the introduction of turbo cells (this would be a new design approach aiming to provide maximum CPU frequency and boost performance in the GPU).

The new process node chips are expected to enter full production in 2027. They could be a game changer for Intel to catch up to Apple and compete with the Cupertino chips. But for now, Intel will have the 18A chips to try to match the M5 this fall.

Apple's M5 series chips are expected soon. They could come as early as next month, and they are reportedly going to be using a TSMC 3nm process node, similar to the M3 and M4. This fall, Intel will debut its first 18A (1.8nm) chips to answer Apple's challenge, with the Intel's Panther Lake mobile CPU.

The chip is likely going to be known as the Intel Core Ultra 300 series. It is expected to be a successor to Intel's Lunar Lake, at least when it comes to power efficiency and mighty GPU performance.

The 18A node is said to bring 25% more performance at 36% lower power than the current 3 node. Also, the Intel 18A would be the first silicon wafer process node that supports backside power delivery, which is an industry first.

Apple is a tough nut to crack though. It's excellent when it comes to laptop performance and battery life. The thing is, when Intel's chips beat Apple in performance, they lose in battery life and vice versa, but so far, they haven't been able to cover both super important aspects of a laptop.

Meanwhile, Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite is so far the only chipset for Windows machines that can close the gap more to Apple's M series, but... well, it doesn't have proper gaming support.

Apple is expected to move to TSMC's 2nm process node for the M6 chip, which is expected in late Spring 2026, or even later. Well, we also have the 14A by Intel expected in 2027. Things are looking quite hopeful for laptop buyers: you know, after all, there's a clear winner in all these competitions: and it is us, the buyers.

Let's see what Intel has in store to challenge Apple and its first-party laptop processors.