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Apple unveils M2, taking the breakthrough performance and capabilities of M1 even further
M2 delivers new levels of power-efficient performance and capabilities to the completely redesigned MacBook Air and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro
CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today announced M2, beginning the next generation of Apple silicon designed specifically for the Mac. Built using second-generation 5-nanometer technology, M2 takes the industry-leading performance per watt of M1 even further with an 18 percent faster CPU, a 35 percent more powerful GPU, and a 40 percent faster Neural Engine.1 It also delivers 50 percent more memory bandwidth compared to M1, and up to 24GB of fast unified memory. M2 brings all of this — plus new custom technologies and greater efficiency — to the completely redesigned MacBook Air and updated 13-inch MacBook Pro.
“M2 starts the second generation of M-series chips and goes beyond the remarkable features of M1. With our relentless focus on power-efficient performance, M2 delivers a faster CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine. And along with higher memory bandwidth and new capabilities like ProRes acceleration, M2 continues the tremendous pace of innovation in Apple silicon for the Mac.”
said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies.
More Transistors, More Memory
The system-on-a-chip (SoC) design of M2 is built using enhanced, second-generation 5-nanometer technology, and consists of 20 billion transistors — 25 percent more than M1. The additional transistors improve features across the entire chip, including the memory controller that delivers 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth — 50 percent more than M1. And with up to 24GB of fast unified memory, M2 can handle even larger and more complex workloads.
| Apple M Silicon series | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VideoCardz.com | M1 | M2 | M1 Pro | M1 Max | M1 Ultra |
| CPU Cores | 4P + 4E (8 cores) | 4P + 4E (8 cores) | 8P + 2E (10-cores) | 8P + 2E (10-cores) | 16P + 4E (20-cores) |
| GPU Cores | 7 or 8 | 10 | 14 or 16 | 24 or 32 | 48 or 64 |
| Neural Engine Cores | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 32 |
| Transistors | 16 billion | 20 | 33.7 billion | 57 billion | 114 billion |
| Foundry process | 5nm | 2nd Gen 5nm | 5nm | 5nm | 5nm |
| Unified Memory | 16GB LPDDR4X | 24GB LPDDR5 | 32GB LPDDR5 | 64GB LPDDR5 | 128GB LPDDR5 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 68 GB/s | 100 GB/s | 200 GB/s | 400 GB/s | 800 GB/s |
Faster Power-Efficient Performance
The new CPU features faster performance cores paired with a larger cache, while the efficiency cores have been significantly enhanced for even greater performance gains. Together, they deliver 18 percent greater multithreaded performance than M1, so M2 can rip through CPU-intensive tasks using very little power, like creating music with layers of effects or applying complex filters to photos.1 Compared with the latest 10-core PC laptop chip, the CPU in M2 provides nearly twice the performance at the same power level. And, M2 delivers the peak performance of the PC chip while using just a quarter of the power.2 When compared to the latest 12-core PC laptop chip — which needs dramatically more power to deliver an increase in performance and is therefore found in thicker, hotter, more noisy systems with less battery life — M2 provides nearly 90 percent of the peak performance of the 12-core chip while using just one-fourth the power.
Apple M2 vs competing 10-core CPU
Apple CPU performance claims, Source: Apple
Apple M2 vs competing 12-core CPU
Apple CPU performance claims, Source: Apple
M2 also features Apple’s next-generation GPU with up to 10 cores — two more than M1. Combined with a larger cache and higher memory bandwidth, the 10-core GPU delivers a big boost in graphics performance, bringing up to 25 percent higher graphics performance than M1 at the same power level, and up to 35 percent better performance at its max power.1 Compared with the integrated graphics of the latest PC laptop chip, the GPU in M2 delivers 2.3x faster performance at the same power level, and matches its peak performance using a fifth of the power.2 The higher performance per watt from M2 enables systems to have exceptional battery life, and run cool and quietly, even when playing graphics-intensive games or editing massive RAW images.
Apple’s Next-Generation Custom Technologies
M2 brings Apple’s latest custom technologies to the Mac, enabling new capabilities, better security, and more:
- The Neural Engine can process up to 15.8 trillion operations per second — over 40 percent more than M1.
- The media engine includes a higher-bandwidth video decoder, supporting 8K H.264 and HEVC video.
- Apple’s powerful ProRes video engine enables playback of multiple streams of both 4K and 8K video.
- Apple’s latest Secure Enclave provides best-in-class security.
- A new image signal processor (ISP) delivers better image noise reduction.
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