Mac M4 Chip Performance Unveiled in First Benchmarks

Monday October 7, 2024 3:32 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple is planning to launch the first M4 Macs in early November, and new benchmarks for one of the upcoming models surfaced on Geekbench, giving us some insight into how the M4 Mac will perform compared to the M4 iPad Pro and prior-generation M3 Macs.

M4 Real Feature Red
The "Mac16,1" that was benchmarked features a 10-core CPU and it earned a single-core score of 3864 and a multi-core score of 15288.

Comparatively, the base M4 ‌iPad Pro‌ with 9-core CPU has an aggregate single-core score of 3647, and a multi-core score of 13135. The ‌iPad Pro‌ models have either a 9-core CPU or a 10-core CPU depending on storage capacity, and 10-core models have higher multi-core scores of around 14500 on Geekbench.

When pitting the M4 against the M3 chip with 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU that was used in last year's Macs, single-core performance is up 26.7 percent, and multi-core performance is up 30.6 percent. The M3 iMac, for example, has a single-core score of 3048, and a multi-core score of 11708.

In the ‌iPad Pro‌, Apple said the M4 was up to 25 percent faster than the M3, and M4 performance in Macs will be the same or better. Note that this is just one benchmark, so there will be some variability in scores when the machines are actually released.

Metal scores for one of the new M4 Macs also surfaced today, and GPU performance is roughly on par with the M4 ‌iPad Pro‌ chip. Mac16,1, which has 16GB RAM, earned a Metal score of 57603. The M4 ‌iPad Pro‌ has a Metal score of 53374. The M4 Macs will likely perform a little bit better due to thermal differences, but again, there is variance in scores.

The M4 chip showing up on Geekbench is the standard M4, and it will be used in the Mac mini and 14-inch MacBook Pro models. We are also expecting to see M4 Pro and M4 Max chips for the higher-end ‌MacBook Pro‌ and ‌Mac mini‌ models, and benchmark results for those machines have not yet surfaced. The M3 chip had a Metal score of 47414, suggesting GPU performance will improve around 20 percent year-over-year.

Apple will likely hold a small event to announce the new M4 Macs toward the end of October, with a launch to follow on November 1.

Tag: M4

Popular Stories

iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday October 1, 2025 1:26 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

iOS 26 was released last month, but the software train never stops, and iOS 26.1 beta testing is already underway. So far, iOS 26.1 makes both Apple Intelligence and Live Translation on compatible AirPods available in additional languages, and it includes some other minor changes across Apple Music, Calendar, Photos, and Safari. More features and changes will follow in future versions,...

Gurman: Major Apple Leadership Shakeup Impending With John Ternus as Next CEO

Monday October 6, 2025 6:21 am PDT by Hartley Charlton

Apple is entering its most significant leadership transition in more than a decade as multiple senior executives prepare to depart and CEO Tim Cook begins to shape the company's next generation of leaders, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that Jeff Williams, who was viewed as Cook's potential successor for several...

• 154 comments

New iPhones See 'Stronger Than Expected' Demand With One Exception

Thursday October 2, 2025 7:26 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Nearly two weeks after the iPhone 17 series launched, analysts at investment banking firm Morgan Stanley said demand for the devices has been "modestly stronger than we originally expected," based on a combination of extended shipping estimates on Apple's online store and information it gathered from Apple's supply chain. There has been strong early demand for the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro,...

• 256 comments

iOS 26 Adds These 200 New Features and Changes to Your iPhone

Saturday October 4, 2025 8:19 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

Apple's website offers a list of nearly 200 new features and changes (PDF file) included in the software update, released last month. Apple also shared equivalent lists for iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer. To install the update, open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on General, and tap on Software Update. Below, we have highlighted eight ...

Apple Fixes Alarms in iOS 26.1

Monday October 6, 2025 11:56 am PDT by Juli Clover

With the second beta of iOS 26.1, Apple updated the design of alarms set on the iPhone, making them harder to dismiss than before. Stopping an alarm in iOS 26.1 beta 2 requires a new Slide to Stop gesture rather than a simple tap. You can continue to tap to snooze an alarm, but if you want to turn it off entirely, you need to use a swipe. Transitioning from a tap to a slide gesture to...

• 127 comments

iPad Mini 8 on the Way: Expected Features and Release Timeline

Monday October 6, 2025 5:05 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

A new iPad mini is "absolutely" on the way, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released a year ago? Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to information found in code that Apple mistakenly shared in...

• 54 comments

M5 MacBook Air: Release Date, Features, and Performance Predictions

Friday October 3, 2025 3:39 am PDT by Tim Hardwick

The MacBook Air is Apple's most popular laptop – a thin, fanless machine that wields quiet power thanks to the efficiency of Apple silicon. While the M4 model isn't exactly old, attention is already turning to its successor. Apple doesn't telegraph new product launches ahead of time, but we can draw a surprisingly clear picture of what to expect by looking at Apple's silicon roadmap,...

• 70 comments

Apple Highlights Five Perks for iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage

Monday October 6, 2025 6:29 am PDT by Joe Rossignol

After launching new iPhones last month, Apple is promoting iCloud+ with a prominent banner on its home page, in a bid to boost its services revenue. In addition to more storage, all iCloud+ plans include five perks for iPhone users. As a refresher, iCloud includes 5GB of storage for free. If you want extra storage, you need to subscribe to an iCloud+ plan. In the United States, prices range...

• 53 comments