Apple Announces M2 Chip With Support for Up to 24GB Memory
Apple today announced the M2 chip, the second-generation Apple silicon chip for the Mac, offering improved efficiency and performance, as well as support for up to 24GB of memory.
M2 is built using second-generation 5nm technology with 20 billion transistors, 25 percent more than the M1 chip. M2 features a 18 percent faster CPU, a 35 percent more powerful GPU, and a 40 percent faster Neural Engine compared to the M1 chip.
The M2 supports up to 24GB of LPDDR5 unified memory and features four performance and four efficiency cores. The chip supports 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, up 50 percent from the M1.
Apple says the M2 is significantly faster at lower power usage levels than the competition. The M2 offers 18 percent greater performance at the same wattage and has up to a 10-core GPU, with two more cores available over the M1 chip. The M2 delivers 87 percent of the peak performance of a 12-core PC laptop chip with just one-quarter of the power usage.
M2 also includes an improved media engine with a higher-bandwidth video decoder, supporting 8K H.264 and HEVC video, a ProRes video engine to playback multiple streams of 4K and 8K video, Apple's latest Secure Enclave for enhanced security, and a new image signal processor (ISP) that delivers better image noise reduction.
The M2 chip debuts in the new MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Popular Stories
The first iOS 17.3 beta rolling out to developers today includes a new "Stolen Device Protection" feature that is designed to add an additional layer of security in the event someone has stolen your iPhone and also obtained the device's passcode. Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal's Joanna Stern and Nicole Nguyen reported about instances of thieves spying on a victim's iPhone...
Apple has made available for download its major end-of-year iPhone software update, iOS 17.2, featuring a large number of features and changes that users have been anticipating for quite a while. Below, we've listed 33 new things that your iPhone can do once you've installed the update. Check Settings ➝ General ➝ Software Update on your device to get downloading. 1. Help You Keep a Daily ...
With the launch of the iPhone 15, Apple introduced design changes like a curved frame and a frosted glass back. Information acquired by MacRumors suggests that Apple's next-generation iPhone 16 will build on these updates with modifications to the buttons and the camera layout. We have details on early pre-production designs for the iPhone 16, including a look at the variants and hardware...
Earlier this year, General Motors (GM) announced plans to phase out Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto in its future electric vehicles, with the company instead relying on an infotainment system co-developed with Google. This has not been a popular decision with iPhone users, and today, GM provided some additional insight into the decision in a discussion with MotorTrend. According to Tim...
While the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max are still over nine months away from launching, there are already several rumors about the devices. Below, we have recapped new features and changes expected for the devices so far. These are some of the key changes rumored for the iPhone 16 Pro models as of December 2023:Larger displays: The iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro Max will be equipped...
Apple today released tvOS 17.2, the second major update to the tvOS 17 operating system that came out in September 2023. tvOS 17.2 comes more than a month after tvOS 17.1, an update that expanded the availability of the Enhanced Dialogue feature. tvOS 17.2 can be downloaded using the Settings app on the Apple TV. Go to System > Software Update to get the new software. Apple TV...
When Apple releases new software, iOS updates tend to get most of the attention, and there are sometimes useful new features in Mac updates that go under the radar. That's the case with macOS Sonoma 14.2. It doesn't have flashy features like the Journal app that came in iOS 17.2, but there are a number of useful improvements that make it worth installing. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube ...
Top Rated Comments
The M2 is clearly based on the A15 so the performance gains are in line with that. The biggest leap users will experience will be going from Intel to Apple Silicon, otherwise we'll probably see gains of 10-20% per generation (which is in no way bad!)