Apple M4 Becomes The Most Popular Apple Silicon Chip Among Steam Mac Gamers
Apple M4 Overtakes M1 as the Most Popular Mac Gaming Chip on Steam
The Apple M4 chip has quietly become the most widely used Apple Silicon processor among Mac gamers on Steam, overtaking the long-dominant M1, according to Valve’s latest hardware and software survey.
Data from Steam’s December 2025 survey shows that 19.6% of Macs running Steam are powered by the M4 system-on-chip. That puts it ahead of the M1, which accounts for 18.06% of users, despite having launched back in 2020. The M2 and M3 chips trail behind at 13.08% and 7.31%, respectively.
The M4 first appeared in the iPad Pro in May 2024 before rolling out across much of Apple’s Mac lineup, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and 24-inch iMac. Its broad availability appears to be the key reason behind its strong showing on Steam, compared to newer chips that are limited to fewer devices.
Interestingly, the M3 chip remains less popular than the M2 among Mac gamers, even though it introduced features such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing. Higher-end Max and Ultra variants also fail to register in meaningful numbers, suggesting most Mac gamers favour more mainstream configurations.
Apple’s newer M5 chip, announced in October 2025, makes up just over 1% of Macs running Steam. While it offers up to 45% faster graphics performance than the M4 and significantly higher gains over the M1, its limited availability in only the 14-inch MacBook Pro likely explains its low adoption so far.
The survey also highlights that 16GB of RAM is the most common configuration among Mac gamers, with more than a quarter of users running macOS Tahoe. While Apple continues to push the Mac as a viable gaming platform, the data suggests most Mac gamers are content sticking with M4-powered systems for now.
As the M5 expands to more Macs in the future, its presence in Steam’s rankings is expected to grow. For the moment, however, the M4 stands as the dominant Apple Silicon chip among Mac users who game on Steam.
