Apple Announces M4 Max Chip: Up to 16-Core CPU, Up to 40-Core GPU, Up to 128GB of RAM, and More

Apple today announced the M4 Max chip alongside new MacBook Pro models—its most advanced and powerful Apple silicon chip to date.

Apple M4 chip series hero
Like the M4 chip introduced in the iPad Pro and the M4 Pro chip unveiled yesterday in the redesigned Mac mini, the M4 Max chips are fabricated with TSMC's enhanced 3nm (N3E) process. Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji said:

Apple silicon has taken the Mac to unprecedented heights, and the rapid pace of innovation continues with M4 Pro and M4 Max. With the world's fastest CPU core, immensely more powerful GPUs, and the fastest Neural Engine ever, the power-efficient performance and capabilities of the M4 family extend its lead as the most advanced lineup of chips in the industry.

The M4 Max's 16-core CPU contains 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores, making it 2.2x faster than the M1 Max. The GPU contains up to 40 cores for performance up to 1.9x faster than the ‌M1 Max‌. The M4 Max supports up to 128GB of unified memory with up to 546GB/s of memory bandwidth. The chip also contains an enhanced Media Engine with two video encode engines and two ProRes accelerators. Like the M4 Pro chip, the M4 Max supports Thunderbolt 5 with up to 120Gb/s data transfer capability.


Apple also today drew attention to the M4 and M4 Pro chip, with the M4 Max completing the new chip lineup. Apple's new MacBook Pro models are available with either the M4, M4 Pro, or M4 Max chips, depending on the model and configuration.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

iOS 26 Battery Glass Feature

iOS 26.1 Beta Liquid Glass Battery Drain Test: Tinted vs Clear Mode

Friday October 24, 2025 2:30 pm PDT by
In the fourth iOS 26.1 beta, Apple added a "Tinted" option that reduces the translucency of Liquid Glass for those who prefer a more opaque look. I saw some comments wondering whether the setting might preserve battery life, so I thought I'd do some testing. Test Settings I did four separate tests using the iPhone 17 Pro Max, and I kept the parameters as similar as possible. Here are the...
iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

Wednesday October 22, 2025 6:15 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some...
iOS 26 Maps Glass

Apple Reportedly Moving Ahead With Ads in Maps App

Sunday October 26, 2025 6:22 am PDT by
Apple Maps could feature integrated ads as soon as next year, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. In his latest "Power On" newsletter, Gurman said that Apple's plan to bring more ads to iOS is moving "gaining traction," with the Maps app being next in line. The project will apparently give restaurants and other businesses the option to pay to have their details featured more prominently in...
Emergency SOS via Satellite iPhone YT

iPhone 18 Pro Rumored to Support Full 5G Satellite Internet

Friday October 24, 2025 7:18 am PDT by
At least some new iPhone models launching next year may support full 5G satellite internet, according to a report this week from The Information. "Apple plans to add support in upcoming iPhones as early as next year for 5G networks that aren't tethered to Earth's surface, which includes satellites," the report said. "That would give the iPhone full internet access over satellite," it added. ...
trump white house ballroom

Apple Donating to Trump's $350M White House Ballroom Project

Thursday October 23, 2025 3:55 pm PDT by
Apple is one of several tech companies that will contribute to the construction of U.S. President Donald Trump's 90,000-square-foot ballroom, reports CNN. Construction began on the ballroom this week, and the White House's east wing was torn down. Trump claims that the ballroom will cost $350 million, and that it will be privately funded through donations. The cost has already increased $150 ...
iPhone 17 Colors

iPhone 18 Rumored to Feature 50% More RAM

Saturday October 25, 2025 2:57 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 18 could feature 50% more memory than its predecessor, according to Korea's The Bell. With its latest iPhone lineup, the iPhone Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max feature 12GB of memory. This is a significant increase of 4GB more their predecessors, largely driven by the demands of on-device artificial intelligence processing. The iPhone 17 is the only new...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

Report: Apple to Skip 'iPhone 19' Name for 'iPhone 20'

Thursday October 23, 2025 4:28 am PDT by
Apple's new iPhone lineup launched in the fall of 2027 will be called the "iPhone 20" models, rather than the "iPhone 19," according to research firm Omdia. Speaking at a conference in Seoul (via ETNews), Omdia Chief Researcher Heo Moo-yeol corroborated rumors that Apple plans to move the launch of its standard iPhone to the first half of the year and provided some additional clarity about...
iOS 26 Feature

iOS 26 Leaker Being Sued by Apple is Actually a 'Lifelong Apple Fanboy'

Friday October 24, 2025 9:20 am PDT by
In July, Apple sued well-known YouTuber Jon Prosser and his acquaintance Michael Ramacciotti over alleged theft of the company's trade secrets, after Prosser leaked some iOS 26 details in videos uploaded to his YouTube channel Front Page Tech. If you are not caught up on the lawsuit, read our initial coverage to learn more. Earlier this week, Prosser told The Verge he has "been in active...
maxresdefault

The MacRumors Show: iPhone Air Is in Trouble

Friday October 24, 2025 8:32 am PDT by
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the latest rumors about the iPhone Air not selling as well as Apple hoped. Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos There have been many recent reports suggesting the iPhone Air has failed to catch on with consumers, with Apple moving to cut production due to lower-than-expected sales. The first warning sign was...

Top Rated Comments

macduke Avatar
13 months ago
Damn, the M4 Max (low) only supports 36GB memory. For comparison, the M3 Max (low) supported up to 96GB. Apple is really squeezing people to upgrade to the topmost spec to get more memory. What's even crazier is the M4 Pro in the Mac mini can be configured to 64GB memory but in the MacBook Pro the M4 Pro is limited to 48GB. Why??
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ROLLTIDE1 Avatar
13 months ago
no wifi 7 :(
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
GDF Avatar
13 months ago

Like 4 people in the world are set up with WiFi 7.
Interesting comment. When companies like Apple start producing more WiFi 7 devices that will make people like me upgrade to WiFi 7. I am sure others would agree and would upgrade to WiFi 7 too. I think anything Apple releases now should be WiFi 7. Makes no sense that iPhone 16 Pro’s are WiFi 7 capable, but all the new devices announced this week are not.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
allquixotic Avatar
13 months ago
I'm extremely disappointed that Apple did not increase the RAM on the top end M4 Max. We need more RAM for our generative AI (LLM) workloads, and this isn't getting it done. 48 GB sticks are available commercially; they could have slotted 4 x 48 GB modules for 192 GB on the top end. Why didn't they? Why?

+15% CPU and +20% GPU isn't gonna get it done. Sorry Apple, I'm skipping this generation. Your inability to ship more RAM just cost you at least $8k from me.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CWallace Avatar
13 months ago
My guess is that the M4 Ultra will be two M4 Max with the UltraFusion interconnector so that is going to be a beast at up to 32 CPU and 80 GPU cores and 256GB of RAM.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mazz0 Avatar
13 months ago
Why can't you get the Max in a Mac Mini? If the cooling in the MacBook Pro is sufficient you'd think the cooling in the Mini would be too (even the new tiny one). Probably to help them differentiate the Studio (and charge extra for it).
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)