Apple’s Next Chip Will Break All Previous Records

Apple did not talk about its upcoming MacBook laptops at its recent “Peek Performance” event. These laptops will reportedly boast Apple’s new and improved M2 lineup of in-house chipsets, which is expected to include the M2, M2 Pro, M2 Max, M2 Ultra, and an all-new M2 Extreme.

As the name says, the M2 Extreme will carry extreme specifications and power, as shown by a fresh report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. The Extreme variant will be a monster of a chip that will sit above the M2 Ultra. It will feature a staggering 48-core CPU and 128 GPU cores, which is more than double compared to the M1 Ultra and even the M2 Ultra.

Hence, it is safe to assume that the M2 Extreme will most likely be a combination of two M2 Ultra chips. There will also be an uplift from the new architecture and process node. The M1 chips are based on A14 Bionic’s (used in iPhone 12) CPU and GPU cores, so the M2 will either switch to A15 (iPhone 13) or the upcoming A16 (iPhone 14 Pro) chip depending on TSMC’s production capacities and yields.

Here is the rumored configuration for M2’s CPU and GPU cores.

Gurman has also shared his expectations of how the M2 chips will be divided into upcoming Apple products:

Pro: 

• MacBook Pro (14 inch and 16 inch) with an M2 Pro and M2 Max
• iMac Pro with an M2 Pro and M2 Max
• Mac Studio with an M2 Max and M2 Ultra
• Mac Pro with an M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme
• Apple Pro Display 7K

Consumer:

• MacBook Air with an M2
• MacBook Pro (13 inch) with an M2
• Mac mini with an M2 and an M2 Pro version to replace the Intel model
• iMac with an M2
• Apple Studio Display