An in-depth look at Apple's M2 chip: 20B transistors, up from 16B in M1 and 15B in A15, alongside a 10-core GPU, up from an 8-core in M1, and 8K video decoding
Though primarily a software-focused event, Apple's WWDC keynotes are often stage for an interesting hardware announcement or two as well …
The announcement matters less as an isolated specification update than as the middle layer of a growing Apple-silicon range: a mainstream M2 alongside higher-end M1 derivatives, later followed by M2 Max and M2 Ultra configurations.
First-order effects
Apple upgrades its base M-series chip from M1’s 16 billion transistors and up-to-eight-core GPU to M2’s 20 billion transistors and 10-core GPU, while adding 8K video decoding.
M2 gives Apple a newer mainstream SoC configuration beneath the M1 Ultra, whose 114 billion transistors and 128GB unified-memory capacity remained the top end of the prior generation.
Second-order effects
Apple’s chip lineup becomes a more explicit performance ladder: the M2 advances the entry tier while larger Max and Ultra-class designs can extend the same family upward.
The added GPU cores, higher reported memory bandwidth, and 8K decode make graphics, memory, and media-engine capabilities recurring points of differentiation within Apple’s Mac silicon range.
Third-order effects
If Apple continues pairing a regular base-chip refresh with scaled-up variants, its Mac platform will increasingly be organized around a single in-house SoC family rather than a single processor specification.
The M1-to-M2 progression points to competition within Apple’s own lineup shifting toward how far one architecture can be scaled across graphics, memory, and media workloads.
The trend: Apple is turning its custom Mac silicon from a single-chip transition into a tiered, regularly refreshed family spanning mainstream and high-end compute.
Apple this afternoon has taken the warps off of its second-generation Apple Silicon SoC for Macs: M2. With improved CPU cores, LPDDR5, and a larger 10-core GPU, the 20B transistor M2 has all the makings of a nice upgrade over the well-received M1 https://www.anandtech.com/... htt…
Apple is now moving on to gaming at its WWDC keynote. Apple claims “Apple Silicon has changed everything” for gaming on the Mac and that there's a “huge and fast-growing opportunity for game developers.” hmm, I'll believe it when I see it 🤷 https://twitter.com/...
The next generation of Apple silicon is here. M2 is ready to supercharge the MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Pro, but there's so much more we announced today. Greater connectivity, customization, and capabilities. Day one done, more to come! #WWDC22 https://twitter.com/...
It's hard to measure the true performance gains of M2 over M1 without knowing which benchmarks Apple is using. Already the “multithreaded” is noteworthy https://www.apple.com/... https://twitter.com/...
I do wish Apple was a bit more forthcoming on GPU architecture changes. But that's nothing new. They could add new features or make a big overhaul, and most of the time you'd never know until much later In any case, the M2 looks like it will be an interesting follow-up to the M1 …