Apple’s switch to its own chips is paying off in a way buyers actually feel: Apple Silicon Macs appear to fail far less often in their first year than Intel-based Macs of the same age. Fresh repair data from a UK refurbisher suggests the new generation is not just faster and more efficient, but also more reliable over time.
The numbers are stark. Hoxton Macs says Apple Silicon Macs sold in 2025 had a first-year failure rate of 0.9%, compared with 2.2% for Intel Macs of the same age. That puts Intel machines at roughly 2.4 times the failure rate, based on repair records covering 120,000 refurbished Mac computers sold since 2013. For a product line famous for long lifespans, that gap is hard to shrug off.
Why Apple Silicon Macs run cooler
The most likely culprit is heat, or more accurately, the lack of it. Apple Silicon’s lower power draw means less thermal stress on components such as solder joints and capacitors, which are repeatedly expanded and contracted as a machine warms up and cools down. Less heat also means fans do less work, and in models like MacBook Air, there are no fans to wear out at all.
That matches what repair shops have been seeing since Apple began the transition. A quieter machine is nice; a machine that cooks itself less is better. Intel-era Macs were never exactly notorious for being toast, but they did live closer to the edge thermally, and hardware rarely forgives that over time.
What the repair data says
- Apple Silicon Macs sold in 2025: 0.9% failure rate in the first year
- Intel Macs of the same age: 2.2% failure rate in the first year
- Data set: 120,000 refurbished Macs sold since 2013
Hoxton Macs founder Ben Higgs says his team has viewed Apple Silicon machines as more reliable since the platform launched, and the numbers back up that gut feeling. This is also a useful reminder that Apple’s chip transition was never just about benchmark bragging rights; efficiency can quietly become durability, which is the kind of upgrade customers remember long after launch-day hype fades.
The fan failures Apple Silicon avoids most
Higgs says he can barely remember a single Apple Silicon device with a failed fan. That may sound minor, but it points to the bigger picture: fewer moving parts, less heat, and less strain on the fragile bits inside a laptop or desktop. Intel Macs still have their fans, and fans still have a habit of eventually making noise, slowing down, or simply giving up.
The next question is how far this reliability advantage stretches as these machines age. If the early failure gap stays this wide over several years, Apple will have a very convenient argument for keeping Intel in the history books where it belongs.