Ampere is a bright spot in all of this, indeed. Just considerably late. I remember being bombarded by "ARM servers are going to eat the world" in 2013, but ARM

Ampere is a bright spot in all of this, indeed. Just considerably late. I remember being bombarded by "ARM servers are going to eat the world" in 2013, but ARM couldn't deliver SBSA in shape that would make it possible and to this day I am left with serious doubts if any ARM board will work out right (there are bright spots though). As for Apple "uniqueness", I met a lot of people who think that Apple "just" has so much better design team, when it's similar to what you say and the unique part is them being able to properly narrow their design space instead of chasing cost-conscious manufacturers.