Apple Announces M2 Chip With Support for Up to 24GB Memory

Apple today announced the M2 chip, the second-generation Apple silicon chip for the Mac, offering improved efficiency and performance, as well as support for up to 24GB of memory.

m2
M2 is built using second-generation 5nm technology with 20 billion transistors, 25 percent more than the M1 chip. ‌M2‌ features a 18 percent faster CPU, a 35 percent more powerful GPU, and a 40 percent faster Neural Engine compared to the ‌M1‌ chip.

The ‌M2‌ supports up to 24GB of LPDDR5 unified memory and features four performance and four efficiency cores. The chip supports 100GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, up 50 percent from the ‌M1‌.

Apple says the ‌M2‌ is significantly faster at lower power usage levels than the competition. The ‌M2‌ offers 18 percent greater performance at the same wattage and has up to a 10-core GPU, with two more cores available over the ‌M1‌ chip. The ‌M2‌ delivers 87 percent of the peak performance of a 12-core PC laptop chip with just one-quarter of the power usage.

‌M2‌ also includes an improved media engine with a higher-bandwidth video decoder, supporting 8K H.264 and HEVC video, a ProRes video engine to playback multiple streams of 4K and 8K video, Apple's latest Secure Enclave for enhanced security, and a new image signal processor (ISP) that delivers better image noise reduction.

The ‌M2‌ chip debuts in the new MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

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Top Rated Comments

Tom W in AZ Avatar
40 months ago
Mac mini should have been included in the M2 Line-up.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kerr Avatar
40 months ago
M2 announcement saved me from falling asleep
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dandeco Avatar
40 months ago
Let's hope with the autumn event they announce an M2 Mac Mini (maybe even an M2 Pro to go with it).
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Duncan-UK Avatar
40 months ago

I will say though, 24 GB is a welcome addition to M2.

16 GB is becoming tighter for the modern web. Brave takes up easily 10-12 GB on my 32 GB machine.
Then the modern web is a shambolic bloat fest!
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bradman83 Avatar
40 months ago

The performance gains aren't huge. This is just to get people to buy the new Air.

If you're on M1 Pro or higher it isn't an upgrade.
It's not meant to be an upgrade over the M1 Pro or higher. There will no doubt be an M2 Pro/Max/Ultra that are even more powerful.

The M2 is clearly based on the A15 so the performance gains are in line with that. The biggest leap users will experience will be going from Intel to Apple Silicon, otherwise we'll probably see gains of 10-20% per generation (which is in no way bad!)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
_Spinn_ Avatar
40 months ago
Was not expecting the M2 today.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)