With iPad having a better CPU than Mac, is Apple trying to phase out the Mac in favor of the iPad?
Nah. They just choose to do this staggered rollout. It is weird that the M4 is starting here. But various devices have been used as the “first” of each Apple Silicon generation.
The current iMacs have M3. And the studio is still on M2. That does not mean the iMac is favored over the Studio. Nor did it mean the iMac is favored over the previous iPads.
Probably first production run of the M4 is limited in numbers and fit the initial targets of the iPad Pro.
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