Even though last-minute rumors claimed that the new iPad Pros would jump directly from the M2 chip to the M4, there was suspicion and for good reason. Apple actually unveiled the M3 last October, at the time of the launch of the latest MacBook Pros. What could be more normal than to think that tablets would also be equipped with them?
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But Apple has decided to go all out, even if it means completely unbalancing the Mac family. Consumers who were considering an iMac, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro — the only machines with an M3 chip — may think twice before investing in a machine that doesn’t have “the” latest fashionable chip. Courage: it’s coming! All ranges should benefit from the benefits of the M4 in the coming months.
Read The M4 chip with its generative AI could equip a new iMac by the end of this year
The M4 chip does more than provide additional power: it is the central piece of Apple’s AI strategy. We know that the manufacturer took its time before switching to generative AI. And given the number of occurrences of the words “AI” or “artificial intelligence” in press releases this week, the subject will be at the heart of Apple’s communication throughout the year. The next step is known, it is June 10 for WWDC where we can expect a fireworks display of new products. Apple now has the way clear, now that the chip problem is resolved…
But what is actually miraculous about this M4 chip? On paper, we are more on a “speed bump” than a palace revolution. It is engraved in 3 nm “ second generation », the chip therefore benefits from improvements compared to an M3, also engraved in 3 nm but a priori with a less advanced process. Apple is content to promise better energy efficiency, which is always welcome for tablets.
The M4 system-on-a-chip actually comes in two versions. iPad Pro M4s equipped with 256 to 512 GB of storage will make do with a 9-core CPU and 8 GB of unified memory. The other two models of 1 and 2 TB will be entitled to a 10-core CPU and 16 GB of unified memory. These will most likely be the base configurations for the iMac and MacBook Air. In both cases, the GPU includes 10 cores.
Currently, these two computers are offered at entry level with an M3 chip with 8 cores for the CPU, and 8 cores for the GPU. The M4 chip should therefore mechanically perform better in the benchmarks, even at an equivalent clock frequency: the SoC simply has more cores. In its configuration with 10 CPU cores, the M4 has 4 efficient cores (identical to the M3), and 6 efficient cores (compared to 4 on the M3).
On the GPU side, Apple announces a “ next generation architecture » compared to the M3. The graphics circuit includes dynamic caching functions for very fine management of memory allocation, support for ray tracing, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading (a graphics rendering technique to better manage the complexity of 3D geometries) . These graphic improvements appeared with the A17 Pro of the iPhone 15 Pro, and they were integrated by the M3.
Read Can the iPhone 15 Pro, even overpowered, really take on the PS5?
The M4’s Neural Engine (or NPU or Neural Processing Unit) is the star of the show. Certainly, this neural engine has 16 cores, identical to what we find in the M3. But it simply doubles the number of operations per second: 38 trillion! The chip is 60 times faster than the first Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic. The CPU also lends a helping hand with its “ machine learning accelerators [ML] » next generation and higher bandwidth for unified memory.
Apple gives some examples of the usefulness of such an AI engine: for the live subtitle function, visual search, to isolate a subject from the background in Final Cut Pro… There is no doubt that the manufacturer will multiply the examples. Especially since this Neural Engine allows AI tasks to be calculated locally, which will allow Apple to assert data confidentiality.
The manufacturer is not mistaken and is making a date: the Neural Engine of the M4 is quite simply the most powerful NPU than any artificial intelligence accelerator that can equip an AI PC today. Obviously, all of this will be put to the test at 01lab!
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