Apple’s Intel MacBooks were, and are still, quite durable. My wife and I both still use our old Intel MacBooks to browse the web, watch videos, and listen to music. But, would you believe it? an Apple refurbisher says Apple Silicon MacBooks are proving to be twice as durable as the old Intel models.
A June report from UK Apple refurbisher Hoxton Macs finds that the Intel Macs it has sold have been returned for hardware faults twice as often as the Apple Silicon models it sold.
The report says that there was a 0.9% hardware fault rate for Apple Silicon Macs sold during 2025. In this case, that refers to the share of MacBooks repaired or replaced under warranty in the first year after sales.
Meanwhile, refurbed Intel Macs of the same age as the equivalent Apple Silicon model sold by the company show double that hardware fault rate. (The data counts failures from a 2016 MacBook Pro through 2018, the same as it counts a M1 MacBook Air from 2020’s failures through 2022.)
“Matched for age, an Intel Mac comes back for a hardware fault about twice as often as an Apple silicon one,” the company says. “The faults that matter most — logic-board and battery failures — run at roughly double the rate on Intel.”
Over the last three years, the blended warranty-return rate for all Mac models sold by the refurbisher has more than halved. In 2023, there was a 2.9% return rate for faults, but by 2025, it it had plunged to 1.1%
As for why there are fewer Apple Silicon-related fault issues, the retailer says Apple’s switch in chips resolved what could go wrong.
During the Intel MacBook reign, batteries wore out faster due to the heavier power requirements of the chip. Batteries needed to be replaced more often because they were more easily drained.
On the other side of the coin, Apple Silicon MacBooks take a lighter toll on the batteries, reducing the cycle count and minimizing the need for replacement.
According to the firm, a three-to-four-year-old Apple Silicon MacBook has about half the cycles of the equivalent Intel model by the time the laptop darkens the company’s doors.
The lack of fans on the Apple Silicon MacBook Air contributed to those stats, unlike the heavily fanned Intel machines. While a fan cools a laptop’s innards, it also pulls in dust, which eventually builds up, clogging the airflow, ironically causing overheating.
USB Type-C ports on Intel Mac units also failed at a higher rate than on Apple Silicon machines.
