Apple’s M4 has been positioned as a new chipset that delivers a major leap in performance and efficiency since the company skipped the M3 for the latest iPad Pro models in favor of its successor. However, while the CPU difference between the two SoCs could be major, various claims are being made regarding the GPU performance being identical to the M4 and M3. Here, we take a closer look at these claims and see if they hold some truth.
With a higher CPU core count, the M4 may only deliver a noteworthy gain in compute performance
An interesting thing to note was that during Apple’s official announcement of the M4, the company ignored any comparison with the M3, almost acting like the latter did not exist. Instead, the attention was focused on the M2, stating that the M4 delivers a 50 percent performance bump in the CPU department, with the 10-core GPU offering hardware-accelerated mesh shading and hardware-accelerated ray tracing support. Unfortunately, when it comes to non-ray tracing workloads, @negativeonehero provides a deeper insight into the M4’s performance.
With the performance chart shared on X, the tipster estimates that the CPU performance of the M4 will be enough to land it a significant lead against the M3 and M2. Unfortunately, on the subject of GPU performance, he mentions that the M4 and M3 perform similarly in non-ray tracing workloads. Additionally, notable reviewer Geekerwan, who has built his reputation with comprehensive testing of various high-end smartphones and chipsets, states on the Chinese video-sharing website BiliBili that the M4 will offer no graphics performance improvement of the M3.
Currently I’m projecting M4 CPU performance to be like this. Baseline is M2, the x-axis is power consumption.
For the GPU, there seems to be almost zero improvement on non ray-tracing workloads, but let’s wait and see. pic.twitter.com/RtEJg5enqp— Nguyen Phi Hung (@negativeonehero) May 7, 2024
However, he does mention that the switch to TSMC’s second-generation 3nm process could improve power efficiency, suggesting that, once again, Apple could be focused on increased battery runtime rather than raw performance. Then again, before we see some actual benchmarks and figures, we cannot immediately believe the claims of these individuals. Similarly, our readers should treat these rumors with a pinch of salt and await more updates.
