The transformation here is not size or performance or intelligence but security.

The iPhone Air and iPhone 17 with MIE (Memory integrity enforcement) promise to be the first devices capable of resisting even nation-state-level attacks, through hardware+software integration of memory tagging to stem use-after-free and buffer overflow attacks, and hardware defenses against speculative execution attacks.

Third-party software developers can opt in to MIE now; users should insist on it from their application vendors.

https://security.apple.com/blog/memory-integrity-enforcement...