Yup, nitpicky is a word. RISC vs CISC IPC is an undying debate. Each has it's advantages, each has it's drawbacks. Comparing the two to each other is never a perfectly straight forward task and likely never will be. However, arriving at a conclusion based on a task by task analysis can give enough information to arrive at a finding which has merit. It's never perfect, but close enough. And in reality, Apple's Mseries SOCs are very solid and well performing. Make no mistake though, they can never replace CISC out-right without becoming CISC to some degree.
Desperation is not the right word. Intel has to adapt to the ever evolving reality that ARM is as prevalent as CISC once was.
And here's the other thing Intel has to adapt to and yet AMD is in the same situation Vs ARM.
That is an over-reaction, though likely in the ballpark. No one who is King of their particular hill wants to loose it..