Why Apple’s M1 Chip Struggles with Docker and Legacy Software – What You Need to Know

Introduction

Last Friday we discussed how Apple’s latest M1 chip does not support Docker containers. If you missed it, you can read the original article for details.

Docker’s official response is that they will work on adapting to the new architecture, but many other software packages also cannot run properly on the M1.

Why the M1 Chip Faces Compatibility Issues

Before the M1, most PCs used Intel’s x86 architecture, which dominated the market for decades and created a massive ecosystem of software and hardware that expects x86 instructions.

The M1 is based on the ARM architecture. Historically, ARM‑based PCs have suffered from poor compatibility, making many everyday applications impossible to install or run.

Current Status

Apple introduced Rosetta 2 at WWDC 20 to translate existing x86_64 apps for ARM, allowing many applications to run on M1 Macs, but performance can be significantly reduced. Samuel Attard, a maintainer of the Electron project, noted that Electron apps run slower under Rosetta 2 and recommends building native ARM64 binaries.

Apple has also announced that it is working on Apple Silicon support for about 30 popular tools, including Node, Python 3, Go, and V8. Google Chrome 87 already includes Apple Silicon support.

Advantages of the M1 Chip

ARM’s main advantage over x86 is lower power consumption and cost. The M1’s unit production cost is estimated at $40‑$50, compared with $175‑$250 for an Intel Core i5, a five‑fold difference. Using M1 chips could save Apple billions of dollars in hardware costs, and it reduces reliance on Intel.

Future Outlook

Many software packages still lack Apple Silicon support. Examples include VirtualBox (still x86 only), Homebrew, Gradle, Maven, Jenkins, several OpenJDK distributions, the Fortran 90 compiler (affecting R), and Go (expected to support Apple Silicon in version 1.16).

The road ahead for the M1 is long, and developers and users will need to wait for broader software compatibility.