Apple M4 chip: News, release date and specs

M4 is a chip system launched by Apple in 2024. It launches with the iPad Pro, but we'll see it later in desktops and laptops as well. Here are all the details.

Apple launched the M4 chip at an event on May 7, along with the 2024 iPad Pro series. We expect M4 Macs and MacBooks to be launched next year.

Apple doesn't sell the M4 chip separately, so it doesn't have its own price.

You can buy the first M4 device, the 2024 iPad Pro, directly from Apple.

The base M4 chip running the iPad Pro has "up to" a 10-core CPU; four cores for performance and six for efficiency. Apple says the CPU is 50% faster than the M2 chip used in the previous generation iPad Pro.

The 10-core GPU can also handle ray tracing (a first on iPad) for realistic lighting and reflections in video games and 3D rendering. According to Apple, the M4's GPU is four times faster than the M2's.

The updated 16-core Neural Engine is capable of performing up to 38 trillion operations per second, which will help optimize the processor's AI capabilities in photo and video editing (such as background removal and subject selection).

Apple also showed off the M4's new display engine, which will be used to handle dual-layer tandem OLEDs in the 2024 iPad Pro. The chip supports ProMotion and can run a dynamic refresh rate of 10-120Hz as well as color compensation.

Since the M2, Apple has launched three versions of its M-series chips. The Pro and Max versions of the chip look set to continue this trend. The differences between the three versions of the M3 are the number of processor cores in the CPU and GPU, as well as the total amount of memory the chip can use. It seems likely that a similar difference will exist with the M4.

In addition to the iPad Pro, Apple's upcoming desktop and laptop computers are also expected to use the new chip. The rumor might go something like this:

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