Apple unveils M2 Ultra processor for Mac Studio

Apple announced the M2 Ultra processor, a new chip for its Mac Studio workstation for professional users.

The chip has 134 transistors and 24 central processing unit (CPU) cores with 20% faster performance. It has up to 76 graphics processing unit (GPU) cores at up to 30% faster performance. Apple made the announcement at its WWDC event today on the Apple campus in Cupertino, California.

The chip will go into the Mac Studio product, which previously used Intel silicon. These are machines like those used by engineers to deliver Saturday Night Live or create blockbuster movies, said Jennifer Munn at Apple.

Apple said this completes the transition to Apple silicon. Developers can build new versions of apps at warp speed, with up to 25% faster performance than in the past, Munn said.

The 32-core neural engine is 40% faster at AI calculations. It supports 192 gigabytes of unified memory, which is 50% more than M1 Ultra.

“It’s the most powerful chip ever created for a personal computer,” Munn said.

Anshel Sag, principal analyst for Moor Insights & Strategy, said in a message, “I actually think the full transition to Apple Silicon will make development for Apple’s ecosystem easier for developers, especially for gaming.”

He said Hideo Kojima’s announcement of Death Stranding: Director’s Cut is a perfect example of that.

“Because now, you can get a developer to build a title for the entire ecosystem all at once and deploy it across Mac, iPad, iPhone, and even XR. There really isn’t a silicon platform that justifies it,” Sag said.

He added, “I think this will also extend to other apps, because now you aren’t just developing for iPhone, but iPad, Mac and the XR headset. They will all use the same CPUs, memory architecture, GPU drivers, etc. It will attract more developers and encourage them to develop more for the complete ecosystem and help them monetize their development costs quicker.”