What is known about M4

Created according to the new 3-nanometer second-generation process, the Apple M4 chip has four productive and six productive cores, as well as a 10-core graphics processor. In terms of power, Apple claims that the M4’s processor is 50% faster than the M2, and the GPU is four times faster.

Memory bandwidth has also been increased to 120 gigabytes per second, and Apple has added support for dynamic caching, hardware acceleration of ray tracing, and hardware acceleration of mesh shading for the first time in the iPad series. Additionally, Apple guarantees that it supports best-in-class energy efficiency: M4 provides the same performance as M2 but consumes half the power.

Apple M4 / Photo: Apple

M4 is also an updated 16-core neural processorCapable of processing up to 38 trillion operations per second for AI, the company’s first NPU is 60 times faster than the A11 Bionic. Apple says the M4 neural engine will support and speed up tasks like real-time live captions, object isolation when shooting video in Final Cut Pro, and automatic music detection in StaffPad.

Other features of the M4 include AV1 hardware acceleration, a first in the iPad series, and reduced memory requirements for inference-based tasks.

Apple’s M4 chip will first be available in the new 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pros, which are available for pre-order today ahead of official sales starting on May 15.