Intel Tries to Attack Apple, Hurts Itself in its Confusion

Intel has been on a rampage when it comes to attacking Apple recently, but like a lot of rampages, it seems to have done as much damage to itself as to Tim Cook and friends. Not content to sit on its snafu laurels, Intel has done it again with its latest attempt to throw shade on the Mac.

PCGamer reports that in a recent call with Ryan Shrout, Chief Performance Strategist at Intel, Shrout extolled the virtues of Intel chips when it comes to gaming. This is a familiar criticism of Macs, and a fair one at that (they suck at gaming), but Shrout apparently got a little carried away and did not realize he was essentially attacking his own company.

You see, Shrout produced a slide comparing the performance of an Intel i5-equipped laptop against that of a MacBook Pro 16. The problem? The MacBook in his comparison was kitted out with an Intel i9 chip. Oops.

A slide from Intel attacking Apple's MacBook Pro gaming performance

But wait, you say, that is all irrelevant because GPUs are the true measure of gaming performance, not CPUs. And you would be right! Except that Shrout’s slide featured this prominent line: “11th Gen Core i5 H-series provides better gaming performance than most powerful MacBook Pro.” In other words, Intel wanted the comparison to focus on processors… which meant attacking its own handiwork.

This is hardly the first time Intel has embarrassed itself when trying to shame Apple’s latest chips. In April 2021 it produced an ad with the slogan “The world’s best processor on a thin and light laptop” that accidentally depicted a MacBook Pro. I’m sure Apple was flattered.

And before that, it hired “I’m a Mac” actor Justin Long to this time take aim at the Mac, yet shortly afterward Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger said he hoped his firm would be able to manufacture Apple chips in the future. It’s an unconventional way to court a client, sure, but my word does it, erm, get results…

Intel and Apple used to be best buds, with Steve Jobs even going so far as to invite a bunny-suit-wearing Paul Otellini, then Intel CEO, onto the stage at Macworld Expo 2006. But ever since Apple announced it was ditching Intel chips and working on its own Mac processors, Intel has been on a sore streak. It is not surprising given how fantastically well Apple Silicon chips perform, but you would have thought Intel’s marketing division was a bit savvier than this. Apparently not.