Garbage Collection is a crucial aspect of memory management in software development. It plays a significant role in optimizing memory usage and preventing memory leaks. In the Apple environment, specifically in iOS and macOS development, garbage collection is not applicable. Apple introduced Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) as a memory management model, which replaced the need for garbage collection.

Automatic Reference Counting (ARC) is a compile-time technology that automatically manages the memory of Objective-C objects. It tracks references to objects and releases them when they are no longer needed. ARC ensures that memory is allocated and deallocated efficiently, eliminating the need for manual memory management or garbage collection.

Examples:

1. In Objective-C, when creating an object, ARC automatically inserts retain and release calls to manage the object's memory. For example:

   
   NSString *myString = [[NSString alloc] initWithString:@"Hello"];
   // ARC automatically inserts a retain call for myString

// When myString is no longer needed, ARC automatically inserts a release call

2. In Swift, ARC manages memory automatically without the need for explicit retain and release calls. For example:
```swift
var myString: String? = "Hello"
// ARC automatically manages the memory for myString

myString = nil
// ARC releases the memory when myString is set to nil