Apple M2
This article needs additional citations for verification. (June 2022) |
General information | |
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Launched | M2: June 24, 2022 M2 Pro and Max: January 17, 2023 M2 Ultra: June 13, 2023[1] |
Designed by | Apple Inc. |
Common manufacturer | |
Performance | |
Max. CPU clock rate | 3.49 GHz[citation needed] |
Cache | |
L1 cache | Performance cores 192+128 KB per core Efficiency cores 128+64 KB per core |
L2 cache | Performance cores M2: 16 MB M2 Pro and M2 Max: 32 MB M2 Ultra: 64 MB Efficiency cores M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max: 4 MB M2 Ultra: 8 MB |
Last level cache | M2: 8 MB M2 Pro: 24 MB M2 Max: 48 MB M2 Ultra: 96 MB |
Architecture and classification | |
Application | M2: Notebook (MacBook family), tablet (iPad Pro), desktop (Mac Mini), mixed reality headset (Vision Pro)[2] M2 Pro: Notebook (MacBook Pro), desktop (Mac mini) M2 Max: Notebook (MacBook Pro), desktop (Mac Studio) M2 Ultra: Desktop (Mac Studio, Mac Pro) |
Technology node | 5 nm (N5P) |
Microarchitecture | "Avalanche" and "Blizzard" |
Instruction set | ARMv8.5-A[citation needed] |
Physical specifications | |
Transistors |
|
Cores |
|
GPUs | Apple-designed integrated graphics M2: 8 or 10 core GPU M2 Pro: 16 or 19 core GPU M2 Max: 30 or 38 core GPU M2 Ultra: 60 or 76 core GPU |
Products, models, variants | |
Variant | |
History | |
Predecessor | Apple M1 |
Mac transition to Apple silicon |
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Apple M2 is a series of ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc. as a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) for its Mac desktops and notebooks, and the iPad Pro tablet. It is the second generation of ARM architecture intended for Apple's Mac computers after switching from Intel Core to Apple silicon, succeeding the M1. Apple announced the M2 on June 6, 2022, at WWDC, along with models of the MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro using the M2. The M2 is made with TSMC's "Enhanced 5-nanometer technology" N5P process and contains 20 billion transistors, a 25% increase from the M1. Apple claims CPU improvements up to 18% and GPU improvements up to 35% compared to the M1.[3]
The M2 was followed by the professional-focused M2 Pro and M2 Max chips in January 2023. The M2 Max is a higher-powered version of the M2 Pro, with more GPU cores and memory bandwidth, and a larger die size.[4] Apple introduced the M2 Ultra in June 2023, combining two M2 Max chips in one package.[1]
Design
CPU
The M2 has four high-performance "Avalanche" and four energy-efficient "Blizzard" cores, first seen in the A15 Bionic, providing a hybrid configuration similar to ARM DynamIQ, as well as Intel's Alder Lake and Raptor Lake processors. The high-performance cores have 192 KB of L1 instruction cache and 128 KB of L1 data cache and share a 16 MB L2 cache;[5] the energy-efficient cores have a 128 KB L1 instruction cache, 64 KB L1 data cache, and a shared 4 MB L2 cache. It also has an 8 MB system level cache shared by the GPU. The M2 Pro has 10 or 12 CPU cores, and the M2 Max has 12.
GPU
The M2 integrates an Apple designed ten-core (eight in some base models) graphics processing unit (GPU). Each GPU core is split into 16 execution units, which each contain eight arithmetic logic units (ALUs). In total, the M2 GPU contains up to 160 execution units or 1280 ALUs, which have a maximum floating point (FP32) performance of 3.6 TFLOPs.
The M2 Pro integrates a 19-core (16 in some base models) GPU, while the M2 Max integrates a 38-core (30 in some base models) GPU. In total, the M2 Max GPU contains up to 608 execution units or 4864 ALUs, which have a maximum floating point (FP32) performance of 13.6 TFLOPS.
The M2 Ultra features a 60- or 76-core GPU with up to 9728 ALUs and 27.2 TFLOPS of FP32 performance.
Memory
The M2 uses 6,400 MT/s LPDDR5 SDRAM in a unified memory configuration shared by all the components of the processor. The SoC and RAM chips are mounted together in a system-in-a-package design. 8 GB, 16 GB and 24 GB configurations are available. It has a 128-bit memory bus with 100 GB/s bandwidth, and the M2 Pro, M2 Max, and M2 Ultra have approximately 200 GB/s, 400 GB/s, and 800 GB/s respectively.[6]
Other features
The M2 contains dedicated neural network hardware in a 16-core Neural Engine capable of executing 15.8 trillion operations per second. Other components include an image signal processor, a PCIe storage controller, a Secure Enclave, and a USB4 controller that includes Thunderbolt 3 (Thunderbolt 4 on Mac mini) support. The M2 Pro and Max support Thunderbolt 4.
Supported codecs on the M2 include 8K H.264, 8K H.265 (8/10bit, up to 4:4:4), 8K Apple ProRes, VP9, and JPEG.
Products that use the Apple M2 series
M2
- MacBook Air (13-inch, M2, 2022)
- MacBook Air (15-inch, M2, 2023)
- MacBook Pro (13-inch, M2, 2022)
- iPad Pro (11-inch, 4th generation) (2022)
- iPad Pro (12.9-inch, 6th generation) (2022)
- Mac Mini (2023)
- Vision Pro (2024)[2]
M2 Pro
M2 Max
M2 Ultra
- Mac Studio (2023)[6]
- Mac Pro (2023)[6]
Variants
The table below shows the various SoCs based on the "Avalanche" and "Blizzard" microarchitectures.[7]
Variant | CPU
cores (P+E)* |
GPU cores |
GPU EU |
Graphics ALU |
Neural Engine
cores |
Memory (GB) | Transistor count |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
A15 Bionic | 5 (2+3) | 5 | 80 | 640 | 16 | 4 | 15 billion |
6 (2+4) | 4 | 64 | 512 | 16 | 4 | ||
5 | 80 | 640 | 16 | 4-6 | |||
M2 | 8 (4+4) | 8 | 128 | 1024 | 16 | 8–24 | 20 billion |
10 | 160 | 1280 | 16 | ||||
M2 Pro | 10 (6+4) | 16 | 256 | 2048 | 16 | 16–32 | 40 billion |
12 (8+4) | |||||||
19 | 304 | 2432 | 16 | ||||
M2 Max | 12 (8+4) | 30 | 480 | 3840 | 16 | 32–96 | 67 billion |
38 | 608 | 4864 | 16 | ||||
M2 Ultra | 24 (16+8) | 60 | 960 | 7680 | 32 | 64–192 | 134 billion |
76 | 1216 | 9728 | 32 |
* (Performance + Power efficiency)
See also
References
- ^ a b "Apple introduces M2 Ultra". Apple. June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
- ^ a b "Apple Vision Pro is Apple's new $3,499 AR headset". The Verge. June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
- ^ "Apple unveils M2, taking the breakthrough performance and capabilities of M1 even further" (Press release). Apple. June 6, 2022. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
- ^ "Apple unveils MacBook Pro featuring M2 Pro and M2 Max". Apple Newsroom (Press release). Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
- ^ "Apple Announces M2 SoC: Apple Silicon for Macs Updated for 2022". AnandTech. June 6, 2022. Archived from the original on November 10, 2022. Retrieved November 9, 2022.
- ^ a b c d "Apple unveils new Mac Studio and brings Apple silicon to Mac Pro". Apple. June 5, 2023. Retrieved June 5, 2023.
- ^ "Apple M2 Chip: Everything You Need to Know". MacRumors. Retrieved July 30, 2022.