Discussion Apple Silicon SoC thread

[Eug]

M1
5 nm
Unified memory architecture - LP-DDR4
16 billion transistors

8-core CPU

4 high-performance cores
192 KB instruction cache
128 KB data cache
Shared 12 MB L2 cache

4 high-efficiency cores
128 KB instruction cache
64 KB data cache
Shared 4 MB L2 cache
(Apple claims the 4 high-effiency cores alone perform like a dual-core Intel MacBook Air)

8-core iGPU (but there is a 7-core variant, likely with one inactive core)
128 execution units
Up to 24576 concurrent threads
2.6 Teraflops
82 Gigatexels/s
41 gigapixels/s

16-core neural engine
Secure Enclave
USB 4

Products:
$999 ($899 edu) 13" MacBook Air (fanless) - 18 hour video playback battery life
$699 Mac mini (with fan)
$1299 ($1199 edu) 13" MacBook Pro (with fan) - 20 hour video playback battery life

Memory options 8 GB and 16 GB. No 32 GB option (unless you go Intel).

It should be noted that the M1 chip in these three Macs is the same (aside from GPU core number). Basically, Apple is taking the same approach which these chips as they do the iPhones and iPads. Just one SKU (excluding the X variants), which is the same across all iDevices (aside from maybe slight clock speed differences occasionally).

EDIT:



M1 Pro 8-core CPU (6+2), 14-core GPU
M1 Pro 10-core CPU (8+2), 14-core GPU
M1 Pro 10-core CPU (8+2), 16-core GPU
M1 Max 10-core CPU (8+2), 24-core GPU
M1 Max 10-core CPU (8+2), 32-core GPU

M1 Pro and M1 Max discussion here:

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M1 Ultra discussion here:

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M2 discussion here:

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Second Generation 5 nm
Unified memory architecture - LPDDR5, up to 24 GB and 100 GB/s
20 billion transistors

8-core CPU

4 high-performance cores
192 KB instruction cache
128 KB data cache
Shared 16 MB L2 cache

4 high-efficiency cores
128 KB instruction cache
64 KB data cache
Shared 4 MB L2 cache

10-core iGPU (but there is an 8-core variant)
3.6 Teraflops

16-core neural engine
Secure Enclave
USB 4

Hardware acceleration for 8K h.264, h.264, ProRes

M3 Family discussion here:

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[mikegg]

Where are the people who were so confident that Apple was on a 18 month+ cadence for Apple Silicon? @Eug and others

Not saying that M4 will come out in May of this year based on this report. But where there is smoke, there is some fire.

 

[Glo.]

It will be absolutely shocking if Apple will already release M4, and... that the first product that gets it is the iPad.

 

[mikegg]

It will be absolutely shocking if Apple will already release M4, and... that the first product that gets it is the iPad.

It isn't that shocking in my opinion.

First of all, A18 Pro design has long been finished. Apple always makes iPhone chips starting in Spring.

Second, N3E is already in full production based on the above logic.

Third, N3B yields are likely so bad that Apple isn't waiting around to start moving chips to N3E asap.

Fourth, Apple is behind in AI and M4 is likely to feature a big NPU boost for future on-device GenAI features. M4 coming out early shows how desperate Apple is to catch up on the AI wave.

 

[Eug]

Where are the people who were so confident that Apple was on a 18 month+ cadence for Apple Silicon? @Eug and others

Not saying that M4 will come out in May of this year based on this report. But where there is smoke, there is some fire.

If you look at my previous post on this, you'll see my belief was there is no strict 12 month cadence or 18 month cadence, but that it would vary between about 12 and 18 months.

An M4 release in May 2024 (iPad only or iPad + Macs?) would be interesting, as it is only 9 months, but then again, that would mean the M3 series is a cut down generation, with no M3 Ultra and several Macs not adopting that generation (Mac mini, Mac Studio, Mac Pro).

Hence my question about N3B: Is N3B so problematic that they decided to simply cut that generation short to move on to M4 on N3E?

 

[mikegg]

If you see my previous post on this, my belief was there is no strict 12 month cadence or 18 month cadence, but that it would vary between about 12 and 18 months.

An M4 release in May 2024 (iPad only or iPad + Macs?) would be interesting, as it is only 9 months, but then again, that would mean the M3 series is a cut down generation, with no M3 Ultra and several Macs not adopting that generation (Mac mini, Mac Studio, Mac Pro).

Hence my question about N3B: Is N3B so problematic that they decided to simply cut that generation short to move on to M4 on N3E?

No, your posts ridiculed the thought of a yearly Apple Silicon cadence. Overtime, maybe your stance has softened after more evidence.

 

[Eug]

No, your posts ridiculed the thought of a yearly Apple Silicon cadence. Overtime, maybe your stance has softened after more evidence.

I said yearly is not necessary since they're Macs and not iPhones, and I still don't believe it will be consistently yearly (although yes it could be after a year occasionally). Personally I don't see why some people are so adamant it has to be yearly. There is no such requirement because the Mac market doesn't demand it. Even in the days of Intel's yearly releases, Apple didn't adopt those chips yearly.

However, I will admit I wouldn't have expected 9 months. Then again, there were theories (that most did not believe) that M3 could move from N3B to N3E to prolong that generation, but I guess moving to M4 on N3B might make more sense.

 

[mikegg]

I said yearly is not necessary since they're Macs and not iPhones, and I still don't believe it will be consistently yearly (although yes it could be after a year occasionally). Personally I don't see why some people are so adamant it has to be yearly. There is no such requirement because the Mac market doesn't demand it. Even in the days of Intel's yearly releases, Apple didn't adopt those chips yearly.

However, I will admit I wouldn't have expected 9 months. Then again, there were theories (that most did not believe) that M3 could move from N3B to N3E to prolong that generation, but I guess moving to M4 on N3B might make more sense.

You can spin it however you want. Just admitting that you were very wrong is enough and we can move on.

 

[Eug]

You can spin it however you want. Just admitting that you were very wrong is enough and we can move on.

You love jumping to conclusions based on a rumour don't you?

 

[mikegg]

You love jumping to conclusions based on a rumour don't you?

You never admit clearly that you made a wrong conclusion, right?

Even if M4 comes out in Fall 2024, that still disproves you.

 

[Eug]

You never admit clearly that you made a wrong conclusion, right?

Even if M4 comes out in Fall 2024, that still disproves you.

You haven't been paying attention. As I've said previously, when Intel had yearly CPU releases, sometimes Apple would adopt those chips yearly, and sometimes they wouldn't, the point being Apple wasn't wedded to a yearly Mac release schedule, even when the chips were available to adopt as drop-in upgrades. It was clear Apple didn't feel the need to lock themselves into that cadence for Macs, even if they do for iPhones. However, iPhones sell at literally an order of magnitude higher than Macs do, so it makes sense.

Anyhow, at this point, we don't know if M4 will come out spring 2024 (which would be a bonus because I'm interested in buying an OLED iPad Pro this year), fall 2024, or early 2025. There have been rumours for all three dates now. Ironically, those rumours have all been stated by Mark Gurman, so he's all over the map.