[acdha]

The difference is the power differential: at the time Apple ran those ads, they were much smaller and semiregularly the topic of speculation about bankruptcy. Pitching them as better than the dominant platform was trying to get buyers to think of them as peers.

In this case, Intel has been the dominant player since the 90s, possibly the late 1980s in the consumer market. Running an ad saying they’re afraid of a newcomer’s first product (in this segment, of course) seems different because they’ve been a safe default option for decades - especially because this option was created to replace their products. It seems just as likely to make consumers wonder why they’re so worried about.