Raw performance is great, and it’s easy to salivate over that. (Or be concerned that you're getting a 5% bump at the cost of no x86 virtualization.)
But I think Apple is doing this for a different performance metric: battery life in the MacBook Air.
Apple doesn't really break out what model line sells what, but it's safe to assume the Air is the big seller, followed by MacBooks Pro, then the iMac, then the mini, and then a rounding error of Mac Pro. For consumer machines, it’s not that compelling to say “it compiles 20% faster”. It is really compelling to say “Apple introduces MacBook Air, powered by Apple Silicon, with 12 hours of battery life, and it never gets hot.”
Pro users need floating point, and this is roughly half the score of an older iMac Pro.
It's not a bad result, but it's still some way short of the kind of performance you need for professional 3D rendering or audio workstation applications.
As someone who lives in a hot climate the only metric I care about is my Macbook not being a hand heater. I miss the old Macbook Air and how nice the cool aluminium surface was under my palms. Every Macbook i've had since then has been uncomfortably sweaty and if this Apple Silicone can reduce the palm rest a few degrees then i'm sold. Of course, if they had put proper cooling in the new Macbook Air it would have done it as well. But gotta push people to those more expensive models every way you can right?
But I think Apple is doing this for a different performance metric: battery life in the MacBook Air.
Apple doesn't really break out what model line sells what, but it's safe to assume the Air is the big seller, followed by MacBooks Pro, then the iMac, then the mini, and then a rounding error of Mac Pro. For consumer machines, it’s not that compelling to say “it compiles 20% faster”. It is really compelling to say “Apple introduces MacBook Air, powered by Apple Silicon, with 12 hours of battery life, and it never gets hot.”