Apple Introduces the M4 Chip

[TheLostSwede]

Apple today announced M4, the latest chip delivering phenomenal performance to the all-new iPad Pro. Built using second-generation 3-nanometer technology, M4 is a system on a chip (SoC) that advances the industry-leading power efficiency of Apple silicon and enables the incredibly thin design of iPad Pro. It also features an entirely new display engine to drive the stunning precision, color, and brightness of the breakthrough Ultra Retina XDR display on iPad Pro. A new CPU has up to 10 cores, while the new 10-core GPU builds on the next-generation GPU architecture introduced in M3, and brings Dynamic Caching, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and hardware-accelerated mesh shading to iPad for the first time. M4 has Apple's fastest Neural Engine ever, capable of up to 38 trillion operations per second, which is faster than the neural processing unit of any AI PC today. Combined with faster memory bandwidth, along with next-generation machine learning (ML) accelerators in the CPU, and a high-performance GPU, M4 makes the new iPad Pro an outrageously powerful device for artificial intelligence.

"The new iPad Pro with M4 is a great example of how building best-in-class custom silicon enables breakthrough products," said Johny Srouji, Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. "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."




New Technologies Enabling the New iPad Pro
Delivering a giant leap in performance over the previous iPad Pro with M2, M4 consists of 28 billion transistors built using a second-generation 3-nanometer technology that further advances the power efficiency of Apple silicon. M4 also features an entirely new display engine designed with pioneering technologies, enabling the stunning precision, color accuracy, and brightness uniformity of the Ultra Retina XDR display, a state-of-the-art display created by combining the light of two OLED panels.

New 10-core CPU
M4 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. And both types of cores also feature enhanced, next-generation ML accelerators.

M4 delivers up to 1.5x faster CPU performance over the powerful M2 in the previous iPad Pro. Whether working with complex orchestral music files in Logic Pro or adding highly demanding effects to 4K video in LumaFusion, M4 boosts performance across pro workflows.

GPU Brings New Capabilities to iPad Pro
The new 10-core GPU of M4 builds upon the next-generation graphics architecture of the M3 family of chips. It features Dynamic Caching, an Apple innovation that allocates local memory dynamically in hardware and in real time to dramatically increase the average utilization of the GPU. This significantly increases performance for the most demanding pro apps and games.

Hardware-accelerated ray tracing comes to iPad for the first time, and enables even more realistic shadows and reflections in games and other graphically rich experiences. Hardware-accelerated mesh shading is also built into the GPU, and delivers greater capability and efficiency in geometry processing, enabling more visually complex scenes in games and graphics-intensive apps. Pro rendering performance in apps like Octane gets a huge boost with M4, and is now up to four times faster than on M2. With these improvements to the CPU and GPU, M4 maintains Apple silicon's industry-leading performance per watt. M4 can deliver the same performance as M2 using just half the power. And compared with the latest PC chip in a thin and light laptop, M4 can deliver the same performance using just a fourth of the power.

The Most Powerful Neural Engine Ever
M4 has a blazing-fast Neural Engine—an IP block in the chip dedicated to the acceleration of AI workloads. This is Apple's most powerful Neural Engine ever, capable of an astounding 38 trillion operations per second—a breathtaking 60x faster than the first Neural Engine in A11 Bionic. Together with next-generation ML accelerators in the CPU, the high-performance GPU, and higher-bandwidth unified memory, the Neural Engine makes M4 an outrageously powerful chip for AI. And with AI features in iPadOS like Live Captions for real-time audio captions, and Visual Look Up, which identifies objects in video and photos, the new iPad Pro allows users to accomplish amazing AI tasks quickly and on device.

iPad Pro with M4 can easily isolate a subject from its background throughout a 4K video in Final Cut Pro with just a tap, and can automatically create musical notation in real time in StaffPad by simply listening to someone play the piano. And inference workloads can be done efficiently and privately while minimizing the impact on app memory, app responsiveness, and battery life. The Neural Engine in M4 is Apple's most capable yet, and is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC today.

Advanced Media Engine for Smooth, Efficient Streaming
The Media Engine of M4 is the most advanced to come to iPad. In addition to supporting the most popular video codecs, like H.264, HEVC, and ProRes, it brings hardware acceleration for AV1 to iPad for the first time. This provides more power-efficient playback of high-resolution video experiences from streaming services.
Better for the Environment

The power-efficient performance of M4 helps the all-new iPad Pro meet Apple's high standards for energy efficiency and deliver all-day battery life. This results in less time needing to be plugged in and less energy consumed over its lifetime.
Today, Apple is carbon neutral for global corporate operations, and by 2030, plans to be carbon neutral across the entire manufacturing supply chain and life cycle of every product.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site | Source

 

[dgianstefani]

Neat

 

[cvaldes]

It'll be fascinating to see how Apple's next generation operating systems to be unveiled next month's WWDC will add new functionality to the M4.

Clearly Apple could have delayed today's announcements by one month but they chose to do it right now. That probably allows them to focus on the software during the WWDC Keynote.

 

[R0H1T]

Oh look bend-gate is back

Spoiler

Probably!

 

[Onasi]

Oh look bend-gate is back

You’d have to try quite hard to pack a tablet into your back pocket and sit on it, to be fair.

 

[Easy Rhino]

You’d have to try quite hard to pack a tablet into your back pocket and sit on it, to be fair.

Maybe he likes that kind of thing.

 

[cvaldes]

You’d have to try quite hard to pack a tablet into your back pocket and sit on it, to be fair.

Someone will definitely try. They will do it on YouTube or TikTok (for full monetization) and someone here will post a link to the video.

I won't even need to look for it. I know the fine TPU community will be happy to oblige.

 

[R0H1T]

You’d have to try quite hard to pack a tablet into your back pocket and sit on it, to be fair.

Well you can bend el cheapo tablets by just a bit of force, most of them are probably not made of "fine" metal so that's not an issue as much over there.

I simply don't this like push to super thin & super large in the tablet space, it was stupid for phablets when they started having this issue as well.

 

[Arco]

Well you can bend el cheapo tablets by just a bit of force, most of them are probably not made of "fine" metal so that's not an issue as much over there.

I simply don't this like push to super thin & super large in the tablet space, it was stupid for phablets when they started having this issue as well.

It's sad we have to put big ass cases on these devices.

 

[Double-Click]

You’d have to try quite hard to pack a tablet into your back pocket and sit on it, to be fair.

Maybe JNCO was ahead of their time...tablet friendly pants...

 

[dir_d]

Maybe JNCO was ahead of their time...tablet friendly pants...

Dating myself, i had a couple pairs of those back in Jr. High.

 

[Fouquin]

M4 is the big-boy GPU upgrade as well as the next step up on ARMv9-A. Uses improved BTI, increases decode width on the performance cores (up from 8-wide), and increases execution pipeline depth on the efficiency cores (up from a theorized 12-stages). That particular change is interesting because you don't normally increase depth if you're gunning for power saving, but Apple must be very confident in their branch prediction. Likely also increasing L1 cache sizes for the first time since M1, but that was only a rumor from back before M4 silicon was out of the design lab.

 

[JohH]

Say what you will about Apple but the rate they introduce new chips on new processes is phenomenal.
M1 - late 2020 N5
M2 - mid 2022 N5P
M3 - late 2023 N3B
M4 - mid 2024 N3E

In that same time period Intel has only really done two (depending how you count): Alder Lake/Raptor Lake on Intel 7 and Meteor Lake on Intel 4 (glued together with a bunch of TSMC-made chiplets).

And AMD has done only Zen 3 on 7nm and Zen 4 on 5nm. Though Zen 5 on N4(P?) is near.

 

[cvaldes]

Say what you will about Apple but the rate they introduce new chips on new processes is phenomenal.
M1 - late 2020 N5
M2 - mid 2022 N5P
M3 - late 2023 N3B
M4 - mid 2024 N3E

In that same time period Intel has only really done two (depending how you count): Alder Lake/Raptor Lake on Intel 7 and Meteor Lake on Intel 4 (glued together with a bunch of TSMC-made chiplets).

And AMD has done only Zen 3 on 7nm and Zen 4 on 5nm. Though Zen 5 on N4(P?) is near.

And it is all driven by the iPhone's success. It's their A-series SoC volume that allows Apple to leverage new process technology at a breakthrough pace. From a business unit standpoint, Macs are a fraction of what iPhones are. Apple could not keep up this process node pace if they were only selling Macs.

It's the iPhone that helped Apple kick Intel to the curb. No other PC manufacturer has that sort of multi-platform synergy, not even Samsung. And Samsung has given up using their own silicon for their Galaxy smartphones, they are now going with Qualcomm. They are moving the opposite direction as Apple.

 

[Dr. Dro]

All I want is an updated Mac mini, come on...

 

[dgianstefani]

And it is all driven by the iPhone's success. It's their A-series SoC volume that allows Apple to leverage new process technology at a breakthrough pace. From a business unit standpoint, Macs are a fraction of what iPhones are. Apple could not keep up this process node pace if they were only selling Macs.

It's the iPhone that helped Apple kick Intel to the curb. No other PC manufacturer has that sort of multi-platform synergy, not even Samsung. And Samsung has given up using their own silicon for their Galaxy smartphones, they are now going with Qualcomm. They are moving the opposite direction as Apple.

Samsung continue to use their own silicon, they use both. This is true for upcoming generations too.

 

[cvaldes]

Samsung continue to use their own silicon, they use both. This is true for upcoming generations too.

Yes, it is still a mixture of both Qualcomm and Samsung silicon for Galaxy. However, Samsung is now putting Qualcomm in their top-tier Ultra models worldwide and actually using an older Snapdragon in the mid-tier Plus models in some markets. Their own Exynos chips are used in the entry level Galaxy models.

That doesn't seem to show a lot of confidence in their own designs, does it?

Hopefully Samsung can make some headway in their in-house design. I'm not aware of them committing to any particular chip manufacturer for future generations. My assumption is their engineers create prototypes with various combinations of components in their labs before they actually decide on a shipping product. I know Apple does this.

In the end the process node doesn't matter to Joe Consumer who knows nothing about such things. What matters is how it all works together and a LOT of it is the software. Sure, process node technology is a contributing factor but there are so many other factors even in the hardware design choices that the node isn't the overwhelming most important criteria.

 

[Fouquin]

And AMD has done only Zen 3 on 7nm and Zen 4 on 5nm. Though Zen 5 on N4(P?) is near.

And Zen 3+ on N6, and Phoenix/Hawk Point on N4.

 

[TechLurker]

I wonder if how bad will performance be if they include mitigations to fix the unfixable security issues plaguing the M1-3 series, and needs a software patch on M4s.

Maybe JNCO was ahead of their time...tablet friendly pants...

Not going to lie, had a few of those way back when, and they made for great pocket-change gardening and general-purpose jeans, what with being able to hold trowels and small plant stakes or a portable CD player in those massive pockets.

 

[AnarchoPrimitiv]

Maybe JNCO was ahead of their time...tablet friendly pants...

Ahh, childhood in the early/mid 90s...the tennis racket holder jeans

 

[kondamin]

I was hoping for a new iphone SE

 

[Dr. Dro]

I was hoping for a new iphone SE

iPhones are generally announced in September. A 4th generation iPhone SE with Face ID should be coming soon, if rumors are to be believed.

 

[cvaldes]

iPhones are generally announced in September. A 4th generation iPhone SE with Face ID should be coming soon, if rumors are to be believed.

Actually the non-core iPhone models often come outside of that particular announcement.

Typically Apple focuses on four: the iPhone, iPhone Plus/Max, iPhone Pro, iPhone Pro Max. From a marketing perspective, there is no advantage for Apple to divert attention to a low cost alternative during the September iPhone event.

Remember that these SE models are typically using older silicon, older displays, older chassis. There's not much in the way of innovation that hadn't been previously announced. It's just a repackaging of high-yield, lower cost components at a more attractive price.

 

[Dr. Dro]

Actually the non-core iPhone models often come outside of that particular announcement.

Typically Apple focuses on four: the iPhone, iPhone Plus/Max, iPhone Pro, iPhone Pro Max. From a marketing perspective, there is no advantage for Apple to divert attention to a low cost alternative during the September iPhone event.

Remember that these SE models are typically using older silicon, older displays, older chassis. There's not much in the way of innovation that hadn't been previously announced. It's just a repackaging of high-yield, lower cost components at a more attractive price.

Apparently this time around it won't be yet another rehash of the iPhone 8, apparently it'll be a single-lens hybrid of the iPhones 13 and 14. At least according to the circulating rumors. Either way, I must confess the Xs Max spoiled me

 

[cvaldes]

Apparently this time around it won't be yet another rehash of the iPhone 8, apparently it'll be a single-lens hybrid of the iPhones 13 and 14. At least according to the circulating rumors. Either way, I must confess the Xs Max spoiled me

The rumors are fun to read but the accuracy is really bad. I mean REALLY bad.

And if you're been reading Apple rumors for more than a couple of years, you should agree.

The camera is a major buying point for Joe Consumer but it's also contributes a significant amount to the BOM. Of course, Apple pretty much has access to every single smartphone camera part on this planet, they can test all suitable candidates and decide what they want to offer. It's not like they write a bunch of part numbers on scraps of paper and draw one out of a fishbowl.

Not every single component in an iPhone SE is old but a lot of key components are because the yields are good, Apple knows how they perform and they fit within the budget.

It's important to note that the September iPhone market focuses on the primary models targeted at their primary markets. Something like the iPhone SE is more attractive to buyers from more price sensitive markets but Apple chooses their flagship line to focus on in September. Those are the models that generate the most revenue and profits which makes it a no-brainer.