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Apple could solve all the naming controversy by calling everything M1 in the current A14 generation and everything in the A15 generation M2.
One thing that I am truly thankful for is that these naming conventions are, compared to other companies, quite simple. Once Apple releases their next SoC in the 'M' series, we'll probably know almost right away what it means. Apple is very good at reducing complexity, sometimes too good, but not in this case, I think.

Compare this to Intel and AMD. With some amount of research, a consumer with enough knowledge can generally figure out what the specs are, but it's not easy at first glance. For instance, Linus just did a video comparing an identical AMD and Intel laptop. The AMD CPU is a Ryzen 7 5800H, while the Intel CPU is an i7-11800H. A 5800H is difficult enough to decipher, but Intel's naming scheme is outright bizarre.

The whole M1 vs. M1X vs. M2 issue is simplistic compared to what the PC side has to deal with. Plus, that doesn't even take into account things like monitor names. What's a ViewSonic VX2705-2KP-MHD? How does this pass through a marketing department? Do PC component suppliers even have marketing departments?
 
Compare this to Intel and AMD. With some amount of research, a consumer with enough knowledge can generally figure out what the specs are, but it's not easy at first glance. For instance, Linus just did a video comparing an identical AMD and Intel laptop. The AMD CPU is a Ryzen 7 5800H, while the Intel CPU is an i7-11800H. A 5800H is difficult enough to decipher, but Intel's naming scheme is outright bizarre.

The naming obfuscation is on purpose. Latest designs are often either delayed or suffer from production shortages, so rebranding is a common and popular way to keep an illusion of innovation and convince users to “upgrade”. Apple is also guilty of these things sometimes (e.g. A12Z and A12X are the same chip), but generally they tend to be more “honest” with their advertising practices because of the company culture and the special nature of their products.
 
The naming obfuscation is on purpose. Latest designs are often either delayed or suffer from production shortages, so rebranding is a common and popular way to keep an illusion of innovation and convince users to “upgrade”. Apple is also guilty of these things sometimes (e.g. A12Z and A12X are the same chip), but generally they tend to be more “honest” with their advertising practices because of the company culture and the special nature of their products.

The A12X and A12Z are the same SoC, but the A12Z does have all 8 GPU cores activated whereas the A12X only had 7 so there was a real and measurable performance difference between them.
 
The naming obfuscation is on purpose.
I somewhat agree, because lately the naming conventions have been particularly bad, but ever since Intel abandoned marketing in gigahertz, product names went off a cliff. For instance, when Intel was on the top of their game, had no issues with their fabs, and AMD wasn't competitive, they still had names like the i7-4770, which isn't better than what we have today. The numbering has gotten longer in characters, but it's all useless without a special decoder ring, and has been for many years, long before major product delays.
Apple is also guilty of these things sometimes (e.g. A12Z and A12X are the same chip), but generally they tend to be more “honest” with their advertising practices because of the company culture and the special nature of their products.
If Apple were giving the "X" and "Z" variants a different generational numbering scheme, then I would agree, but this simply implies an adjustment to the existing product. I don't see any fault in this form of marketing, and it's better than A12X+1 or whatever Intel might dream up.
 
I somewhat agree, because lately the naming conventions have been particularly bad, but ever since Intel abandoned marketing in gigahertz, product names went off a cliff. For instance, when Intel was on the top of their game, had no issues with their fabs, and AMD wasn't competitive, they still had names like the i7-4770, which isn't better than what we have today. The numbering has gotten longer in characters, but it's all useless without a special decoder ring, and has been for many years, long before major product delays.

Yes, these things tend to get worse as the innovation stagnates. Things like “generation n” become meaningless if half of those products are rebrands/minor reconfigurations of older designs. All mainstream CPU and GPU makers are guilty of this.

If Apple were giving the "X" and "Z" variants a different generational numbering scheme, then I would agree, but this simply implies an adjustment to the existing product. I don't see any fault in this form of marketing, and it's better than A12X+1 or whatever Intel might dream up.

In retrospect, you are right. Apple is indeed very transparent that the changes between those to versions are very minor. In this regard they are certainly much more user friendly.
 
The naming obfuscation is on purpose. Latest designs are often either delayed or suffer from production shortages, so rebranding is a common and popular way to keep an illusion of innovation and convince users to “upgrade”. Apple is also guilty of these things sometimes (e.g. A12Z and A12X are the same chip), but generally they tend to be more “honest” with their advertising practices because of the company culture and the special nature of their products.

A12Z and A12X aren't the same chip unless you know a way to unblow a fuse :)
 
The A12X and A12Z are the same SoC, but the A12Z does have all 8 GPU cores activated whereas the A12X only had 7 so there was a real and measurable performance difference between them.
Yes. A bit better graphics performance at the cost of slightly lower cpu performance according to the benchmark I have run on my a12z.
 
Probably next year.
Or else Apple misses their 2-year window. November 2020-November 2022.

Edit: From an Apple PDF:
Start of a Two-Year Transition for the Mac
M1 powers the new MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and 24-inch iMac. They join the rest of the Mac product line to form the strongest Mac lineup ever. This is the beginning of a transition to a new family of chips designed specifically for the Mac. The transition to Apple silicon will take about two years to complete and these systems are an amazing first step.
 
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