Apple has announced the release of M2 Ultra, a new system on a chip (SoC) that drastically improves the performance of the Mac. M2 Ultra is the largest and most capable chip Apple has ever developed, and it will power the new Mac Studio and Mac Pro, making them the most powerful Mac desktops to date.
M2 Ultra uses Apple’s UltraFusion technology to connect the die of two M2 Max chips, which doubles the performance. Built using a second-generation 5-nanometer process, M2 Ultra consists of 134 billion transistors — 20 billion more than M1 Ultra. Its unified memory architecture can support up to 192GB of memory capacity, which is 50% more than M1 Ultra. It also boasts 800GB/s of memory bandwidth, which is twice that of M2 Max. M2 Ultra features a more powerful CPU that’s 20% faster than M1 Ultra, a larger GPU that’s up to 30% faster, and a Neural Engine that’s up to 40% faster. Additionally, it has a media engine with twice the capabilities of M2 Max for blazing ProRes acceleration. With all these advancements, M2 Ultra takes Mac performance to an entirely new level.
Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies, said:
“M2 Ultra delivers astonishing performance and capabilities for our pro users’ most demanding workflows, while maintaining Apple silicon’s industry-leading power efficiency. With huge performance gains in the CPU, GPU, and Neural Engine, combined with massive memory bandwidth in a single SoC, M2 Ultra is the world’s most powerful chip ever created for a personal computer.”
Industry-Leading UltraFusion Technology
M2 Ultra has two M2 Max dies connected through UltraFusion, Apple’s custom-built packaging technology. UltraFusion uses a silicon interposer that connects the dies with more than 10,000 signals, providing over 2.5TB/s of low-latency interprocessor bandwidth. UltraFusion’s architecture enables M2 Ultra to act as a single chip to software. This means code doesn’t need to be rewritten to use the high performance of M2 Ultra. UltraFusion is unique in the industry.
Unmatched Performance and Efficiency
The M2 Ultra boasts a 24-core CPU, including 16 high-performance cores and eight high-efficiency cores. This results in a performance that is up to 20% faster than the M1 Ultra. Mac Studio, powered by the M2 Ultra, can process videos up to 50% faster than Mac Studio with M1 Ultra when using DaVinci Resolve.
The GPU can be equipped with either 60 or 76 next-generation cores. This is an improvement from the already powerful GPU of the M1 Ultra, with up to 12 more cores and up to a 30% increase. Rendering 3D effects using Octane on Mac Studio with M2 Ultra is up to 3x faster than Mac Studio with M1 Ultra.
Unified Memory Architecture for Better Performance
Apple’s unified memory architecture is a distinguishing feature of Apple silicon that offers exceptional bandwidth, low latency, and energy efficiency. M2 Ultra boasts a system memory bandwidth of 800GB/s, surpassing that of any PC. Additionally, it can be customized with a large 192GB of unified memory that enables workflows that are impossible on a PC. For instance, M2 Ultra can undertake massive machine learning workloads on a single system, which even the most powerful discrete GPU cannot process.
Advanced Custom Technologies Supercharge Machine Learning, Video, and More
M2 Ultra integrates Apple’s latest custom technologies right on the chip, maximizing performance and efficiency:
- M2 Ultra features a 32-core Neural Engine, delivering 31.6 trillion operations per second, which is 40 percent faster performance than M1 Ultra.
- The powerful media engine has twice the capabilities of M2 Max, further accelerating video processing. It has dedicated, hardware-enabled H.264, HEVC, and ProRes encode and decode, allowing M2 Ultra to play back up to 22 streams of 8K ProRes 422 video — far more than any PC chip can do.
- The display engine supports up to six Pro Display XDRs, driving more than 100 million pixels.
- The latest Secure Enclave, along with hardware-verified secure boot and runtime anti-exploitation technologies, provides best-in-class security.
Better for the Environment
Apple says the M2 Ultra’s power-efficient performance allows pro users to do even more while remaining environmentally responsible. Apple is currently carbon neutral for all global corporate operations and aims to achieve net-zero climate impact across the entire business, including manufacturing supply chains and all product life cycles, by 2030. This commitment extends to every chip Apple creates, which will be 100% carbon neutral from design to manufacturing.
Mac Transition to Apple Silicon Now Complete
According to Apple, the Mac transition to Apple silicon is now complete, revolutionizing the laptop and desktop experience. This has been fueled by continued innovation in Apple silicon, and it marks the beginning of a new era for the Mac.
