First thing first: the most demanding (computing-wise) calculations (like, but not only, demosaicing & denoising using DeepPRIME) were already ported to the new chip a few months ago (achieving huge gains leveraging the ANE).
With PL5.3, all the “remaining old code” is now Apple Silicon native code. This new version should get you an additional performance boost of about 12-15% (your mileage may vary…).
Steven.
I have a couple of hundred images I need to edit tomorrow, so looking forward to downloading and trying this release out 
OK, downloaded and initial impression is that images render (Correction Preview) much more quickly when first opened ‘full screen’, and when zooming in to 100% to check focus.
This is great news, thanks DxO.
Looking forward to pushing it some more tomorrow when I do the actual editing
The app also launches faster now. Not that this matters too much as one typically opens an app only once or twice a day but still nice.
Edit: M1 Mac Mini with 8Gb memory and 512Gb SSD, and Nikon Z6ii raw images loading from a 500Gb Samsung T5 external SSD (connected by a USB-C cable).
Hey all! Shortly after my last reply I had an urgent delivery of our new baby so I haven’t checked back in a long while.
@StevenL That’s great news! I downloaded the trial and can confirm that it shows up as an Apple Silicon binary.
Unfortunately, this summer has produced several much larger than expected expenses (such as the urgent baby delivery). Had this been out much sooner, I would have been able to purchase it. Now, I will sadly have to wait.
Thank you!
@StevenL Really nice to see an update on this, in a dot release even!
Heads up that the support article on this topic is now outdated, since it only mentions support via Rosetta 2:
According to my activity manager here on my M1 it seems as if I is already native M1.
At least it states “Apple” instead of “Intel” in the area where usually non native apps are mentioned.