Apple plans to replace all Intel CPUs from its laptops and desktops with ARM-based processors produced in-house. Performance is already there if we compare the A13 Bionic SoC with Intel's ULV CPUs, but Apple is waiting for the jump to 5 nm in order to keep Macbook power requirements as low as possible.
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-to-gradually-ditch-Intel-s-CPUs-first-MacBooks-powered-by-ARM-based-chips-coming-in-2021.454623.0.html
Performance means nothing without software. Apple released a unified platform for iOS/macOS software portability (same core but different interface for each platform). ARM macbooks are coming when all software will be portable; 5nm have nothing to do with it.
emulation will be slow & sucks battery.. Apple can't do it for x64 too if Intel doesn't allow that. These are big enough troubles for Apple. No question apple tried to do in 2020 & in before, too, but result wasn't good. Intel put 9 years to release Mac OS X based on new kernel, but doing product level hardware when your software is native is near impossible. 9 years passed for it, too. Almost 10 years since 2010-2011 Apple was wanting to transfer Mac to arm. Nothing happened yet. Their 5nm or 3nm wouldn't be enough to beat Intel effeciency & be Greater & better price.... Quality is another issue...... Now, all apple socs get hot as short as 1 min of Light to Medium Use, that is very bad & unacceptable, needs to be slow down too soon, That shows Apple won't go arm any time soon..
Thanks!
Apple does not need to emulate - they can use native iOS kernel running on ARM, and XCode will recompile any software to run native on ARM with same capabilities (a trump card compared to Microsoft that has to run software compiled in 3rd party IDE). They are testing cross-compilation of the same code between iOS and macOS right now; will move when all bugs in cross-compilation are ironed out.