I think the M1 CPU lowers some of the ARC retain/release to silicon -- it doesn't remove the problem, but it does seem to reduce the relative overhead significantly.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25203924

> this requires at least as much effort as not using ARC to begin with.

Designing a brand new CPU architecture certainly counts as "at least as much effort", yes. ^_^

P.S. While I'm here, your "handles are the better pointers" blog post is one of my all-time favorites. I appreciate you sharing your experiences!