3 reasons why Intel's Lunar Lake chips with integrated memory prove Apple was right all along

Intel Lunar Lake, now known as Core Ultra Series 2, is finally here. The long-awaited platform is the one Intel has been waiting for its users, and has made some bold claims along the way. The company called the notion that Arm architectures are inherently more efficient than x86 a “myth” and planned to bust that myth with Core Ultra Series 2. The company wants to take on everything from Qualcomm's Snapdragon X to Apple's M3 and M4 to AMD's Strix Point.

The jury is still out on that one, as the first wave of Intel Core Ultra Series 2 laptops won't ship until September 24. But we already know that Intel has heeded an old adage when developing the next generation of Core Ultra: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's right—the thin and light Core Ultra Series 2 laptop chips have built-in memory. This won't be upgradeable, and it's essentially the exact same move Apple made four years ago. That really shouldn't surprise anyone, as Apple was clearly right about that from the start.

3 Apple was ahead of everyone

Chip manufacturers are slowly following Apple's example in Ultrabook design

Apple is known for many things, but as First developing something isn't usually one of them. Often, the company's approach is about refinement and patience. Let all the other companies release prototypes and early products and then jump into the market when the technology is mature. If we ever see a foldable phone, tablet, or laptop from Apple, it will be the result of exactly that strategy.

Sometimes Apple does spark change in the technology industry, for better or worse. We have Apple to thank for the end of the headphone jack on most consumer devices, as well as the trend toward non-upgradeable technology products. Almost two decades ago, it began soldering memory to the motherboards of MacBook Air models. Almost everyone criticized the move because RAM upgrades were too expensive at the time of purchase and there were no upgrade options after purchase.

The inside of an M2 Mac Mini with 8GB of unified memory.

Since the switch to Apple silicon in 2020, things have only gotten worse. Every M-series chip, from the first M1 to the latest M4 system-on-a-chip, has built-in memory. This is called unified memory and allows both the CPU, GPU, and NPU cores on the SoC to access the same system memory. This design avoids redundancy, as typical computing devices allocate RAM to multiple parts of the system separately, such as CPU and GPU RAM.

Intel is following a very similar strategy with Core Ultra Series 2. Core Ultra Series 2 consists of nine different SKUs, each with memory at the chip level. So you can configure any of these SKUs with 16GB or 32GB of memory built into the chip itself. No more RAM upgrades, but hopefully better efficiency.

No matter what you think about the things Apple has done with Apple chips—I personally will miss the days of tinkering with a Mac Pro—it's undeniable that Apple beat Intel to the punch by a full four years. The company deserves credit for that. Even Intel, the company that eclipsed Apple in favor of its own chips, agrees with Apple on chip-level memory for Ultrabooks.

2 Who would have thought? It's all about efficiency

For x86 systems to achieve the energy efficiency of Arm chips, they need all the help they can get

So why is Intel following in Apple's footsteps in the first place? If you recall, Apple's biggest advance with its own silicon was efficiency and performance per watt. ARM chips usually beat x86 chips in this area, and Snapdragon X proved that again earlier this year. But Intel wants to bust that myth, and so needs to make the Core Ultra Series 2 more efficient. And it's doing that now in exactly the same way Apple did four years ago – by integrating system memory into the CPU.

The new processors have either 16GB or 32GB of LPDDR5X memory soldered directly onto the chip, which will increase efficiency. Previously, the CPU had to communicate with the motherboard and the RAM itself and vice versa, which consumed a lot of power. Now everything is in one place, cutting out the middlemen, so to speak. This is one of the reasons why Intel Core Ultra Series 2 is said to offer 20% better performance per watt than Qualcomm's X1E-80-100 (Snapdragon X Elite) chip.

The integrated memory isn't the only reason the Core Ultra Series 2 has what it takes to challenge Apple and Qualcomm in terms of performance and efficiency, but it's a big reason. And without giving Apple too much credit, it's the company that pioneered this type of architecture. It used it on iPhones and iPads more than a decade ago and only recently introduced unified memory on Apple silicon in 2020.

1 Apple recognized consumer trends early on

Now the rest of the PC industry is just starting to catch up

For computer enthusiasts, like many of XDA's readers, the trade-offs may not be worth it. Maybe you'd accept worse battery life and efficiency to keep user-upgradable storage. The problem is that consumer trends are heading in the opposite direction. I'd love to keep laptops as upgradable as possible, but that goes against everything else consumers want. They crave more power, better battery life, and thinner chassis. It's just not possible to have it all, so chipmakers and OEMs consistently sacrifice repairability and upgradability in favor of the rest.

However, I would be remiss if I did not point out that Apple is the first to see these trends in 2008The company built an iPod hard drive into the very first MacBook Air, defying modern notions of what a laptop could be at the time. It drove an entire market category of thin and light laptops, on both the Mac and PC platforms. Everything Apple has done since then, from soldering memory and SSDs to the motherboard to introducing desktop-class SoCs with unified memory, has been geared toward satisfying consumer desires.

The effort culminated in the M3 MacBook Air, a fanless ultrabook with incredible battery life. Now Intel is trying to make Core Ultra Series 2 chips that match the consumer trends that Apple first spotted. Intel claims that Core Ultra Series 2 enables 60% longer battery life, and that's one of the chipmaker's big selling points for the platform. Adding CPU-level memory to Core Ultra Series 2 processors to improve battery life and efficiency is just another way of Intel saying that Apple was right all along.

Don't be fooled, there are some things Intel does right

I love using the best Apple Silicon Macs and drive an M2 MacBook Air daily, but I hate that Apple is using the same SoC strategy on the MacBook Air as it did on the flagship Mac Pro. To Intel's credit, the company is learning from Apple's mistakes. It won't solder RAM to the CPU on every new processor – only those intended for use in laptops. It's a great move that should please thin-and-light laptop buyers and desktop users alike. Still, there's no denying the fact that Intel is doing what Apple did years ago.