No M4 Ultra Chip? Apple Confirms the M4 Max Chip Lacks UltraFusion

A spokesperson for Apple has told French technology website Numerama that its M4 Max chip lacks an UltraFusion connector, which would have paved the way for the release of a doubled-up M4 Ultra chip in the future.

M4 M4 Pro vs M4 Max Feature
As we recently covered, Apple told Ars Technica that not every generation of M-series chips for Macs will include an "Ultra" chip. That seems like Apple indirectly confirming that it has no plans to release an M4 Ultra chip, and the M4 Max's lack of UltraFusion technology makes it even more likely there won't be an M4 Ultra chip.

Apple could still design an M4 Ultra chip from scratch, but it seems to have downplayed this possibility, according to the Numerama report.

The new Mac Studio announced today is available with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chip options, with no M4 Ultra chip offered. Apple says the M3 Ultra chip is essentially two M3 Max chips fused together with its UltraFusion technology, so the chip's specs are all doubled compared to the M3 Max. There was speculation last year about the M3 Max chip lacking UltraFusion technology, but Apple's announcement today has proven that rumor was false.

In summary, the M3 Max chip has an UltraFusion connector, but the M4 Max chip does not.

The M3 Ultra chip features up to a 32-core CPU, up to an 80-core GPU, a 32-core Neural Engine, and support for up to 512GB of unified RAM. Apple says the M3 Ultra chip is up to 1.5x faster than the M2 Ultra chip, and up to 1.8x faster than the M1 Ultra chip. To learn more about the chip, read our coverage of Apple's announcement.

Related Roundups: Mac Studio, Mac Pro
Related Forums: Mac Studio, Mac Pro

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Coming Soon With These 14 New Features

Friday July 4, 2025 1:05 pm PDT by
Apple's next-generation iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are just over two months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models. Latest Rumors These rumors surfaced in June and July:Apple logo repositioned: Apple's logo may have a lower position on the back of the iPhone 17 Pro models, compared to previous...
Apple Watch Ultra Night Mode Screen

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Launching Later This Year With Two Key Upgrades

Wednesday July 2, 2025 1:13 pm PDT by
The long wait for an Apple Watch Ultra 3 appears to be nearly over, and it is rumored to feature both satellite connectivity and 5G support. Apple Watch Ultra's existing Night Mode In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the Apple Watch Ultra 3 is on track to launch this year with "significant" new features, including satellite connectivity, which would let you...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max Battery Capacity Leaked

Thursday July 3, 2025 5:40 am PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature the biggest ever battery in an iPhone, according to the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital." In a new post, the leaker listed the battery capacities of the iPhone 11 Pro Max through to the iPhone 16 Pro Max, and added that the iPhone 17 Pro Max will feature a battery capacity of 5,000mAh: iPhone 11 Pro Max: 3,969mAh iPhone 12 Pro Max: 3,687mAh...
airpods pro 2

AirPods Pro 3 to Help Maintain Apple's Place in Earbud Market Amid Increasing Low-Cost Competition

Thursday July 3, 2025 7:25 am PDT by
Apple's position as the dominant force in the global true wireless stereo (TWS) earbud market is expected to continue through 2025, according to Counterpoint Research. The forecast outlines a 3% year-over-year increase in global TWS unit shipments for 2025, signaling a transition from rapid growth to a more mature phase for the category. While Apple is set to remain the leading brand by...
iphone 16 pro models 1

Here's How the iPhone 17 Pro Max Will Compare to the iPhone 17 Pro

Saturday July 5, 2025 1:00 pm PDT by
Apple should unveil the iPhone 17 series in September, and there might be one bigger difference between the Pro and Pro Max models this year. As always, the Pro Max model will be larger than the Pro model:iPhone 17 Pro: 6.3-inch display iPhone 17 Pro Max: 6.9-inch displayGiven the Pro Max is physically larger than the Pro, it has more internal space, allowing for a larger battery and...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple m5

Apple's Upcoming Macs Listed in New Report

Thursday July 3, 2025 9:09 am PDT by
AppleInsider's Marko Zivkovic today shared a list of alleged identifiers for future Mac models, which should roll out over the next year or so. The report does not reveal anything too surprising, but it does serve as further evidence that Apple is seemingly working on new models of every Mac, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

fathergll Avatar
18 weeks ago
Max Tech furiously filming a Youtube video as we read this
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MrRoberto Avatar
18 weeks ago
The interesting thing is that they said the same thing about the M3 chip last year at WWDC, that it had no interconnects to create an M3 Ultra and that's why there will be no Mac Studio released in 2024, lack of M3 Ultra was the explanation.

Now, wonder of wonders, there is an M3 Ultra available after all for the Mac Studio but no M4 Ultra, due to the lack of interconnects?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Lounge vibes 05 Avatar
18 weeks ago

The interesting thing is that they said the same thing about the M3 chip last year at WWDC, that it had no interconnects to create an M3 Ultra and that's why there will be no Mac Studio released in 2024, lack of M3 Ultra was the explanation.

Now, wonder of wonders, there is an M3 Ultra available after all for the Mac Studio but no M4 Ultra, due to the lack of interconnects?
Apple absolutely never said that, people just speculated about it here
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nugget Avatar
18 weeks ago

At this point I’d make a bet that the Mac Pro will have its own monolithic chip.
Judging from history it seems just as likely that the Mac Pro will not see an update for another 4 or 5 years and when it eventually does it will come with an apology and promise of renewed focus from Apple.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sherwinzadeh Avatar
18 weeks ago
UltraFusion doesn't scale the performance of multiple processors well. My guess is that M3 Ultra is the last chip with UltraFusion and they're working on something completely new that wouldn't be ready in time for M4 Ultra.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
awshucks Avatar
18 weeks ago
1997 Steve would have been so proud of this confusion
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)