Skip to main content

Apple did the unthinkable with the new M4 chip

Apple introducing the new M4 chip.
Apple

Apple is doing something crazy with its new M4 chip. Although we’re used to seeing new Apple silicon debut in Macs, Apple is bringing the M4 chip to the new iPad Pro first. The updated chip, which comes with an entirely new CPU architecture, builds on the GPU found in the M3 chip with ray tracing, mesh shading, and Apple’s special Dynamic Cache.

With the M4, Apple says the new iPad Pro can deliver the same performance as a thin-and-light PC while using only a quarter of the power. That’s due in no small part to the 3nm architecture the chip uses. The power envelope, according to Apple’s claims, is all the more impressive considering the iPad Pro doesn’t have any active cooling.

Recommended Videos

The M4 includes a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU. The CPU is broken up into four performance (P) cores and six efficient (E) cores, and Apple says it’s able to deliver 50% faster CPU performance compared to the M2. The GPU is even more impressive. Apple says it delivers a 4x increase in performance compared to the M2, and with plenty of new features in tow.

Someone using the new M4 iPad Pro with a creator app.
Apple

Mesh shading and ray tracing are big additions. With them, you’ll be able to play games like Diablo Immortal with much greater fidelity. Even more impressive is Apple’s Dynamic Caching. This is an essential feature on Apple’s M3, as it allows the GPU to dynamically allocate memory in real time. Instead of pooling memory together, Dynamic Caching uses the exact amount of memory a task needs, freeing up the unused memory for other tasks.

As expected, Apple made a big deal about the Neural Engine in the M4 as well. The 16-core engine can deliver 38 TOPS (trillions of operations per second), which Apple says is 60 times faster than its first Neural Engine. That’s more powerful than any AI PC currently available. Although both Intel and AMD have NPUs inside their latest chips, the M4 in the iPad Pro has more AI processing power.

Specifications for Apple's M4 chip.
Apple

All of these advantages come together to create a chip that is significantly faster, according to Apple. Overall, the M4 iPad Pro is 10 times faster than the original iPad Pro, according to Apple, and it’s able to handle four times as many streams in ProRes RAW as the M2 iPad Pro.

Although it’s great seeing a new addition to Apple’s silicon lineup, it’s strange to see it debut in an iPad. This is the first time Apple is introducing a new chip to its lineup in a device other than of a Mac. We’ll likely see updates to the Mac lineup with the M4 soon, possibly at Apple’s annual Worldwide Developer’s Conference (WWDC) that’s taking place in June.

Jacob Roach
Lead Reporter, PC Hardware
Jacob Roach is the lead reporter for PC hardware at Digital Trends. In addition to covering the latest PC components, from…
Apple’s M4 iMac brings next-gen power to your desktop
People using the Apple iMac with M4 chip.

Apple has brought its M4 chip to the iMac, making it the first Mac to get Apple’s latest silicon chip. The update also brings new colors and a significant performance improvement for the all-in-one desktop computer, and it comes a year after it received the previous-generation M3 chip. As with the previous M1 and M3 iMacs, the M4 model is compatible with Apple Intelligence.

It comes at the beginning of a week of product releases from Apple, with the company previously teasing that it had much more to reveal in the coming days. The updates could see the entire Mac lineup receive some variant of the M4 chip (including more powerful M4 Pro, M4 Max and M4 Ultra editions) over the coming months.

Read more
Apple’s next-gen M4 Macs look set to embrace serious gaming
The Mac mini on a wooden table.

Apple’s Mac machines and gaming don’t quite fit in the same equation, even though the recent trajectory of its Metal architecture has pulled off a few surprises. But it looks like the upcoming M4-tier machines won’t pull any punches, including the Mac mini.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes that for the first time, Apple’s entry-level desktop computer will offer ray tracing support. For the unaware, it’s a lighting system that adds a whole new level of visual realism to games.

Read more
Next week might be the biggest Mac launch since 2020
Logos from the Apple Mac announcement tweet.

Finally, we have confirmation of the long-anticipated fall Mac launch. The rollout, however, may be a bit unconventional for Apple.

At first, we expected a product event, then we speculated about videos and press releases -- and now Apple has revealed an entire "week of announcements" starting on Monday morning. It's expected that the announcements will include the latest M4 refreshes for the Mac lineup, including the MacBook Pro, iMac, and a completely refreshed Mac mini. While many of those will merely be M4 updates, this may end up being the biggest single window of Mac releases since the initial M1 launch in 2020 in terms of sheer quantity.

Read more