In a special event yesterday, Apple announced the first M4 Apple silicon SoC, but there aren’t any Mac computers using it yet. Instead, the 4th-generation Apple chip was released in the latest iPad Pro. We have the details.
Let Loose Event
At their Let Loose event yesterday, Apple announced the fourth-generation Apple silicon chip, the M4. But unlike every event to date, Apple has chosen not to announce any new Mac computers powered by the M4 chip. Instead, they have announced that the first device to be powered by the latest SoC is the new iPad Pro model.
The M4 is also the first device to use second-generation 3-nanometer technology. The new M4 features a new display engine, which drives the Ultra Retina XDR display in iPad Pro.
The M4 also has what Apple claims is their fastest Neural Engine yet, capable of up to 38 trillion operations per second, which they also claim is faster than the neural processing unit of any AI PC today.
Combined with faster memory bandwidth, with Apple’s latest machine learning (ML) accelerators in the CPU, and a high-performance GPU, all ramps up Apple’s AI capabilities. Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies explains…
“The new iPad Pro with M4 is a great example of how building best-in-class custom silicon enables breakthrough products. The power-efficient performance of M4, along with its new display engine, makes the thin design and game-changing display of iPad Pro possible, while fundamental improvements to the CPU, GPU, Neural Engine, and memory system make M4 extremely well suited for the latest applications leveraging AI. Altogether, this new chip makes iPad Pro the most powerful device of its kind.”
The new display engine enables improved precision, colour accuracy, and brightness uniformity for the Ultra Retina XDR display, which combines the light output of two OLED panels. It will be interesting to see whether Apple brings this technology to any of the MacBook ranges.
New 10-core CPU
The M4 base model has a new up-to-10-core CPU consisting of up to four performance cores and now six efficiency cores. The next-generation cores feature improved branch prediction, with wider decode and execution engines for the performance cores and a deeper execution engine for the efficiency cores. Apple is very proud that both types of cores feature “enhanced, next-generation ML accelerators”.
Apple claims the new M4 delivers up to 1.5x faster CPU performance over the M2 used in the previous iPad Pro model.
GPU Brings New Capabilities to iPad Pro
The new 10-core GPU built into the M4 base model builds upon the next-generation graphics architecture of the M3 family of chips. The new M4 features Dynamic Caching, which allocates local memory dynamically in hardware and in real time to increase the average utilization of the GPU. This is designed to significantly increase performance for the most demanding pro apps and games.
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing comes to the iPad for the first time and is designed to enable “even more realistic shadows and reflections in games and other graphically rich experiences”. Apple has also built hardware-accelerated mesh shading into the M4 GPU to deliver “greater capability and efficiency in geometry processing” designed to enable “more visually complex scenes in games and graphics-intensive apps”. Pro rendering performance in apps like Octane get a boost with M4 and is now up to four times faster than on M2.
Even More Powerful Neural Engine
The M4 base model comes with a new Neural Engine, a dedicated block in the chip dedicated to the “acceleration of AI workloads”. Apple claims that this is their most powerful Neural Engine, capable of 38 trillion operations per second, which is sixty times faster than their first Neural Engine found in the A11 Bionic chip. The new Neural Engine makes M4 even better for AI-related tasks like Live Captions for real-time audio captions and Visual Look Up, which identifies objects in video and photos.
For example, with the M4-powered iPad Pro, Apple claims that users can easily isolate a subject from its background throughout a 4K video in Final Cut Pro “with just a tap”. Or users can automatically create musical notation in real time in StaffPad by simply listening to someone play the piano.
Advanced Media Engine for Smooth, Efficient Streaming
The Media Engine in the new M4 base model supports the most popular video codecs, like H.264, HEVC, and ProRes and brings hardware acceleration for AV1 to iPad for the first time providing more power-efficient playback of high-resolution video experiences from streaming services.
Better for the Environment
Apple is very proud of the power-efficient performance of the M4 gives to the all-new iPad Pro, meeting Apple’s “high standards for energy efficiency and delivering all-day battery life. This results in less time needing to be plugged in and less energy consumed over its lifetime.”
When Do We Expect To See The M4 In Mac Computers?
We understand that Apple is planning three variants of the M4 chips.
The base model codenamed Donan. This is what has been used in the new iPad Pro.
A higher-end model codenamed Brava to replace the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips.
A top end model, codenamed Hidra, to replace the the M2 Ultra.
Surprisingly, the M4 developments could allow Apple to move its entire range to the next generation of chips. Don’t forget that there was never an M1-powered Mac Pro or an M2 power iMac, and it looks like we won’t see an M3 Ultra Mac Studio or an M3 Mac Pro.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, in his Power On newsletter, outlined what he understands are Apple’s current plans for M4-powered Mac computers…
A low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4, due around the end of 2024.
A 24-inch iMac with the M4, also expected around the end of the year.
New 14-inch and 16-inch high-end MacBook Pros with M4 Pro/Max chips, due between the end of 2024 and early 2025.
A Mac mini in both M4 and M4 Pro configurations, due between the end of 2024 and early 2025.
New 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs, expected around Spring 2025.
A Mac Studio with a high-end M4 chip, due around mid 2025.
A Mac Pro with an M4 Ultra chip, due in the second half of 2025.
So, no Mac computers with an M4 chip are to be announced at WWDC in June this year. Instead, we are going to have to wait until towards the end of this year for 14-inch MBP and 24-inch iMac. The M4 Pro and M4 Max powered MBP laptops and an M4 Mac mini in early 2025, the 13-inch and 15-inch MBA laptops in Spring 2025, the M4 Mac Studio around WWDC 2025 and lastly, an M4 Mac Pro later in 2025.