for the on-device model, yes it runs on the Neural Engine (at the moment) so a newer chip means faster, cheaper local inference. For the server side path this Claude package is about your machine is irrelevant since it's a network call. The same API covers both, so "best machine for AI" only bites when the session is actually local.

But we can imagine that the balance of what's on-device vs what's remote will move continuously towards the former as time, improved HW and improved local models keep progressing