When Apple launched the M1 chip on the finish of 2020, we have been blown away by the pace enhancements over its Intel predecessors. A yr later Apple did it once more with the M1 Pro and M1 Max. Then in March 2022, Apple revealed the M1 Ultra, filling out the M1 chip lineup and dramatically altering our expectations for Apple’s roadmap. At WWDC in June 2022, Apple launched the following technology of Apple silicon with the M2. So now what? Here’s how the Apple silicon transition began and has gone thus far—and the place it’s going.
M1: December 2020
Apple’s M1 processor relies on the 5nm A14 chip that first arrived within the iPad Air (4th technology) and iPhone 12. It has 4 high-performance cores with 192 KB of L1 instruction cache and 128 KB of L1 knowledge cache and shared 12 MB L2 cache and 4 energy-efficient cores with 128 KB of instruction cache, 64 KB of L1 knowledge cache, and shared 4 MB L2 cache. That makes a complete of eight cores cut up evenly amongst energy and effectivity resulting in super pace boosts over the prior fashions. The system-on-a-chip additionally has an eight-core GPU in most fashions (the entry-level MacE-book Air and 24-inch iMac have a 7-core GPU) with 128 execution items and as much as 24576 concurrent threads.
Apple
Memory has additionally modified. With the M1, the LP-DDR4 reminiscence isn’t simply soldered to the motherboard, it’s truly a part of the chip itself. That means it’s quicker and extra environment friendly than earlier than, nevertheless it’s additionally a bit extra restricted—you’ll be able to solely get 8GB or 16GB in an M1 Mac and there’s no option to improve it after buy. (That received’t be a shock for MacE-book patrons however the identical additionally applies to desktop fashions, although we’re unsure concerning the Mac Pro but.) And lastly, the chip has a 16-core Neural Engine, together with the Secure Enclave and USB4/Thunderbolt help.
M1 Pro and M1 Max: October 2021
We began listening to concerning the growth of an M1X chip earlier this yr, however the rumors weren’t fairly correct. Apple is looking its next-gen processors the M1 Pro and M1 Max, and true to their names, they’re an enormous leap over the M1.
Built utilizing the identical 5nm course of because the M1, the M1 Pro and M1 Max convey a brand new 10-core CPU, together with eight high-performance cores and two high-efficiency cores, that delivers speeds as much as 70 p.c quicker than the M1. The M1 Pro gives as much as 200GB/s of reminiscence bandwidth with help for as much as 32GB of unified reminiscence whereas the M1 Max delivers as much as 400GB/s of reminiscence bandwidth with help for as much as 64GB of unified reminiscence.
On the graphics aspect, the M1 Pro has a 14-core or 16-core GPU that’s as much as 2x quicker than M1, whereas the M1 Max provides a 32-core GPU choice for as much as 4x quicker graphics efficiency than M1. According to Apple, the brand new M1 Max MacE-book Pro can transcode ProRes video in Compressor as much as 10x quicker in contrast with the Intel 16-inch MacE-book Pro.
Additionally, the chips even have a 16-core Neural Engine, extra Thunderbolt 4 controllers, and a brand new show engine that may drive as much as 4 exterior shows on the M1 Max. You can discover them within the 14- and 16-inch MacE-book Pro.
M1 Ultra: March 2022
The M1 Ultra got here as a shock throughout Apple’s “Peek Performance” occasion in March. Apple did a superb job conserving this processor below wraps—the rumors that popped up concerning the Mac Studio a few days earlier than the occasion merely described the Ultra as a variant of the M1 Max.
Turns out that calling the M1 Ultra a variant is deceptive—it’s truly two Max chips that work collectively as one. Apple created a particularly quick interconnect referred to as UltraFusion that provides 2.5TBps of bandwidth between the 2 dies, which permits the Ultra to be acknowledged as a single SoC by macOS.
Since the Ultra is 2 Maxes, you’ll be able to double the specs of a single Max and also you get the lowdown on the Ultra. It has 20 CPU cores, with 16 efficiency cores and 4 effectivity cores, and a 48-core or 64-core GPU. The M1 Ultra is on the market with 64 or 128GB of unified reminiscence, with a reminiscence bandwidth of 800GBps. And it has a 32-core Neural Engine.
The Ultra additionally has all of the media engines discovered within the Max, however once more, it has twice as many: two video decode engines, 4 video encode engines, and 4 ProRes encode and decode engines. Simply put, this is a perfect processor for video enhancing.
M2: June 2022
Apple took the wraps off the M2 at WWDC in June 2022. The first Macs to function the brand new chip are the MacE-book Air and 13-inch MacE-book Pro. The M2 will finally change the M1 because the baseline for the M-series, however Apple will nonetheless supply Macs with the M1 for months and perhaps years to come back.
The M2 is a 5nm chip with a base configuration that has the identical variety of cores because the M1: eight CPU cores (4 efficiency, 4 effectivity), and an eight-core or 10-core GPU. That’s the identical because the M1, however Apple has made enhancements to spice up its efficiency–the efficiency cores’ L2 cache elevated from 12GB to 16GB, and the clock speeds are greater. Apple mentioned the M2 gives an 18 p.c general CPU enhance over the M1, and a 35 p.c enhance with GPU efficiency.
Apple
The M2 additionally has the next most RAM configuration than the M1–24GB with 8GB and 16GB choices. The M2’s reminiscence bandwidth is now 100Gbps, a rise over the M1’s 68.25GBps. The 16-core Neural Engine can also be quicker than the M1’s. The M2 additionally has an improved media engine that helps H.264 and HEVC encoding and decoding as much as 8K decision and consists of the ProRes video acceleration help.
The M2 will most likely make its method into the Mac mini later this yr. It may additionally discover its method into the 24-inch iMac, however since that mannequin began delivery in May 2021, it will not be up to date till early 2023.
M2 Pro and M2 Max: Mid-to-late 2023
The subsequent technology of Apple’s high-end laptop computer processors may have a number of tiers of efficiency just like the M1 Pro and M1 Max, with as many as 20 computing cores, made up of 16 high-performance and 4 high-efficiency cores, in keeping with a Bloomberg report. Based on what we all know of the M2, the M2 Pro and Max may have 12 CPU cores, as much as 38 or 40 GPU cores, and better RAM limits. Based on the present cadence, we count on these to launch in 2023, presumably at WWDC or the autumn Mac occasion, however some stories counsel they might launch later in 2022.
M2 Extreme: Mid 2023
When John Ternnus introduced the M1 Ultra processor on the “Peek Performance” occasion, he declared it to be the final chip within the M1 household. Later within the presentation, he teased the ultimate Mac to transition to Apple silicon, the Mac Pro. Assuming each of these issues are true, Apple is engaged on a workstation-caliber desktop chip for the following technology of its Mac Pro tower that’s one thing completely different than a mere improve to the M1 Ultra. The Mac professional chip has been rumored to have as much as 40 cores because of a four-die course of or the pairing of chips with 32 efficiency cores, in addition to a 64-core or 128-core GPU.
Apple is reportedly growing a brand new Mac Pro with an extremely highly effective customized chip inside.
IDG
Those numbers look so much like two M1 Ultra chips. So it’s doable that Apple does one thing much like what it did with the M1 Max by fusing two M1 Ultra chips right into a mega chip that brings these very rumored specs: 40 CPU cores (32 efficiency, eight effectivity), 128 GPU cores, 64 Neural Engine cores, and as much as 356GB of RAM. Gurman teased the existence of that very chip that might launch subsequent yr, tentatively referred to as the M2 Extreme.
We don’t know if Apple will proceed to supply PCI slots for graphics and storage or just add extra ports for growth, however the Mac Pro is certainly essentially the most fascinating Mac within the Apple silicon transition. We may get a peek on the machine at WWDC with a launch in November or December.
M3: Late 2023
Apple is already engaged on the third technology of its M-series processor, in keeping with the newest rumors. It will probably be its first Mac processor to make use of a 3nm course of and supply a big pace enhance over the M2 because of a brand new structure, presumably with extra GPU and CPU cores, greater RAM limits, and further Thunderbolt ports. Its code title is Ibiza.
M3 Pro and M3 Max: Late 2024-early 2025
We don’t know a lot concerning the M3 Pro and M3 Max aside from their codenames are reportedly Lobos and Palma, and the chip will probably be primarily based on the M3 processor. Based on the M1 timeline, this chip most likely won’t arrive till 2025
Source: www.macworld.com