Apple Vision Pro M2 Chip Said to Have 10 GPU, 8 CPU Cores

[MacRumors]

The Apple Vision Pro runs on an M2 chip equipped with ten GPU cores and eight CPU cores – the same version used in Apple's higher-end MacBook Air models. That's according to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman.

Apple revealed early on that its mixed reality headset uses an M2 processor, but it wasn't clear until now which variant of the chip Apple had chosen.

Apple uses the M2 chip in both of its current 13.6- and 15.3-inch MacBook Air models, which launched in June 2022. Built on 5-nanometer technology, the M2 has an 8-core CPU, much like the M1, but it supports eight or ten GPU cores, up from seven or eight in the M1.

As things stand, Apple's $3,499 Vision Pro will launch on February 2 with what is officially a last-generation processor, given that Apple has since released 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models powered by M3 chips.

The M2 chip in Vision Pro is responsible for processing content, running the visionOS operating system, executing computer vision algorithms, and providing graphical content. However, it does not work alone.

Vision Pro offloads the processing of information coming from the cameras, sensors, and microphones to a dedicated custom-built R1 chip. Apple says that it can stream images to the displays within 12 milliseconds, providing a "virtually lag-free" view of the world.

The entry-level Vision Pro is equipped 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage space. Apple could offer models with up to 1TB of storage, but the existence of bigger capacities has not yet been confirmed.

In the same post on X, Gurman additionally confirmed that Apple customers will be able to purchase the Vision Pro online and at retail stores using Apple Card installments. Typically, Apple Card installments let customers spread the purchase over monthly payments with no interest. iPhone purchases can be made over 24 monthly payments, for example. Apple Vision Pro pre-orders open on Friday, January 19 at 5.00 a.m. PST in the United States.

Article Link: Apple Vision Pro M2 Chip Said to Have 10 GPU, 8 CPU Cores

 

[dannys1]

Should have given us at least an M2 Pro for the price!!

(This is what I expect many people to say)

 

[antiprotest]

This should make that one-finger keyboard run smoothly.

 

[japanime]

Is this the Cyclops Edition?

 

[Zest28]

Who is going spend $3500 on a 1st gen product? Too much risk for that type of money.

I'm skipping this one and see how the 1st gen pans out. And then I may or may not buy the 2nd gen for $3500.

 

[jo-1]

iPad PRO CPU and GPU configuration

Years ago in a former assignment ( where my NDA has expired ) a guy from ARM held an internal workshop elaborating on efficiency as being one of their main interests.

Efficiency is for mobile devices the most critical task since it does not matter how fast a task is managed but how many tasks you can do since you want to avoid too much heat and too fast battery draining.

Therefore the main task of a development team is to find exactly that sweet spot where the performance is good enough while maintaining battery life GOOD ENOUGH.

I guess that's been the main target for Apple and of course the availability of hardware. We can only speculate if Apple wanted to allow orders already mid of last year when they revealed the AVP but I guess it is ready when it's ready.

I like the approach from Apple making things as good as they can at a certain point in time. I hate it when things are crippled by design or not top notch and in case of the AVP the main criteria was probably robustness of the process and the µIC is probably mainly doing housekeeping anyway.

The M2 in the iPad does an incredible Job and in the iPad PRO it uses exactly this combination of CPU and GPU cores. We can take it for granted that the total performance will be roughly at the level of the iPad PRO with 1 TB storage.

Not shabby and surely above most ARM based systems on this globe. The questions remains how much the R1 does and whether we'll find out more about the R1 design characteristics?

I am really looking forward to my AVP in Europe later this year and I am very jealous about the US - very much!

 

[antnythr]

See, it can drive 2 displays.

 

[DelayedGratificationGene]

IMO I’m thinking the masses are very ready for a new platform. We’ve had desktops(decades), laptops(decades) mobile(decades) it’s time for something revolutionary and AVP is it.

 

[Kissmo1980]

I was super interested in this product, thought I cannot really afford it. However with the latest rumors, my excitement faded more and more.

I guess I will have to work with my expectation levels, and just sit on this and watch the reviews, feedback and whre or IF it's headed into some direction.

tech specs, start to matter less and less if the features that would making it compelling for me are not there.

Common Apple, pull another iPhone like move? - I pray it does... phones are not my favorite tech

 

[8KYUP]

Who is going spend $3500 on a 1st gen product?

Everyone who wants to use one until gen 2 comes out, silly.

 

[sehns]

How tf else they going to hit that 30% margin?

 

[Tripps9000]

Wow can someone lend me the money to get one 😂

 

[jo-1]

I was super interested in this product, thought I cannot really afford it. However with the latest rumors, my excitement faded more and more.

I guess I will have to work with my expectation levels, and just sit on this and watch the reviews, feedback and whre or IF it's headed into some direction.

tech specs, start to matter less and less if the features that would making it compelling for me are not there.

Common Apple, pull another iPhone like move? - I pray it does... phones are not my favorite tech

just have a look at the base line M3 with 8 CPU and 10 GPU cores - it is barely faster than the iPad PRO with the identical CPU and GPU configuration - so you would have gained basically nothing

• iPad PRO with M2 ( 3.5 GHz ) 8x CPU and 10x GPU Geekbench results:
  • single core: 2527
  • multi core: 9578
  • metal: 45392
• MacBook PRO with M3 ( 4.1 GHz ) 8x CPU and 10x GPU Geekbench results:
  • single core: 3084
  • multi core: 11578
  • metal: 47386

That does not sound like a solid improvement over the M2 with identical configuration. Plus the M3 is running 17 % faster clock speed at potentially +5 .. 10 % more energy consumption ). The multi core performance is just a a tiny bit better and the GPU performance is virtually identical. I see no real pressing need for an M3 - mind you - real world gains would be limited if not indistinguishable.

But in case it helps - every not in the US bought AVP will make it more likely that I can get mine in Europe faster - can't wait to get mine and it's going to be a day to celebrate.

What we don't know at all is the contribution of the R1 - this will be the most interesting part to analyze once the first AVPs have been delivered.

 

[Kissmo1980]

just have a look at the base line M3 with 8 CPU and 10 GPU cores - it is barely faster than the iPad PRO with the identical CPU and GPU configuration - so you would have gained basically nothing

• iPad PRO with M2 ( 3.5 GHz ) 8x CPU and 10x GPU Geekbench results:
  • single core: 2527
  • multi core: 9578
  • metal: 45392
• MacBook PRO with M3 ( 4.1 GHz ) 8x CPU and 10x GPU Geekbench results:
  • single core: 3084
  • multi core: 11578
  • metal: 47386

That does not sound like a solid improvement over the M2 with identical configuration. Plus the M3 is running 17 % faster clock speed at potentially +5 .. 10 % more energy consumption ). The multi core performance is just a a tiny bit better and the GPU performance is virtually identical. I see no real pressing need for an M3 - mind you - real world gains would be limited if not indistinguishable.

But in case it helps - every not in the US bought AVP will make it more likely that I can get mine in Europe faster - can't wait to get mine and it's going to be a day to celebrate.

What we don't know at all is the contribution of the

The fact that it is rumored to be missing the option to open multiple apps from the Mac - like having 3 or 4 open apps and being able to move them around.
This is a functionality I would need.

Would I love to have the device - sure! No doubt! but I need to look at cost and use case.

I am also European by thew way
And I do hope AVP kicks A$$ eventually and I will get my hands on one for sure at that point.

 

[crsh1976]

years ago in a former assignment ( where my NDA has expired ) a guy from ARM held an internal workshop elaborating on efficiency as being one of their main interests.

Efficiency is for mobile devices the most critical task since it does not matter how fast a task is managed but how many tasks you can do since you want to avoid too much heat and too fast battery draining.

Therefore the main task of a development team is to find exactly that sweet spot where the performance iss good enough while maintaining the most critical speed demands GOOD ENOUGH.

I guess that has been the main target for Apple and of course the availability of hardware. We can only speculate if Apple wants to allow orders already mid of last year when they revealed the AVP but I guess it is ready when it's ready.

I like the approach from Apple making things as good as they can at aa certain point in time. I hate it when things are cropped by design or not top notch but in case of the AVP the main criteria i probably robustness of the process and the µIC is probably mainly doing housekeeping anyway.

The M2 in the iPad does an incredible Job and in the iPad PRO it uses exactly this combination of CPU and GPU cores. We can take it for granted that the total performance will be roughly at the level of the iPad PRO with 1 TB storage.

Not shabby and surely above most ARM based systems on this globe. The questions remains how much the R1 does and whether we'll find out more about the R1 design characteristics?

I am really looking forward to my AVP in Europe later this year and I am very jealous about the US - very much!

The base M3 is already slightly more efficient than the M2 (at least when comparing the M3 8/8 to the M2 8/10 variants) in performance per watt rating - if it weren't the case, then we'd be already stuck with overclocked versions of the last gen processors to stand as 'the new thing', like Intel does with their 'refresh' gen (like the new 14th gen series).

This is not to say the base M2 isn't good enough for the AVP by any stretch, it's just a little weird given the premium price of the device.

 

[jo-1]

... having 3 or 4 open apps and being able to move them around.
This is a functionality I would need.

who said that this would be limited by the CPU? In all demos people were able to open APPs and work on multiple windows including a window from a MAC Book PRO - this has been possible even in the iPad PRO from 2018 that I still own and use - it is more a question of RAM and with 16 GB that seems to be on e nice level.

 

[Kissmo1980]

who said that this would be limited by the CPU? In all demos people were able to open APPs and work on multiple windows including a window from a MAC Book PRO - this has been possible even in the iPad PRO from 2018 that I still own and use - it is more a question of RAM and with 16 GB that seems to be on e nice level.

There was a article rumor on Macrumors - saying that you will only be able to mirror your Mac - 1 screen
I don't know how many apps will have a Vision OS implementation or a good one at that.

I wasn't referring to running apps natively on VisionOS - it's my mistake - I wasn't clear about it.

 

[newyorksole]

Who is going spend $3500 on a 1st gen product? Too much risk for that type of money.

I'm skipping this one and see how the 1st gen pans out. And then I may or may not buy the 2nd gen for $3500.

it’s really not that difficult to fathom lol.

this may not seem worth it / worthwhile or cool to some people, but to others this is their first opportunity to try a totally new Apple product. first of its kind from them.

people who make decent money / have savings etc will probably just throw it on a credit card or payment plan and pay it off throughout the year.

it’s a lot of money, but also a lot of technology and innovation. it’s also not far off from a decent MBP with AppleCare+ and accessories (even tho I know this is a way different type of product to compare to).

 

[jo-1]

This is not to say the base M2 isn't good enough for the AVP by any stretch, it's just a little weird given the premium price of the device.

you pay for the end product and not for the µIC - knowing what's inside does not give you any insight in the performance since this is the fest ever product. For me it makes no difference whether it has M1, M2 or M3 and at 3.5 GHz the M3 in base configuration is potentially more power efficient but in 4.1 GHz it iss marginally faster and potentially equally or more electrical power draining.
I guess we can call it most probably a tie between the M2 and M3 for the AVP use case and the price iss probably still a steal for what we get - I'd be willing to pay more to get one today and not in a few months when the initial demand in the US is satisfied.

 

[XboxEvolved]

What’s really gonna piss people off that buy this is when Apple irons out the bottlenecks, replaces it with an m3 and sells it for $500 cheaper in 9 months when it sells in more locations.

 

[Hopefully Smarter]

Doles it have SCSI?

I love the commenters questioning apple on a device they have never seen.

 

[jo-1]

There was a article rumor on Macrumors - saying that you will only be able to mirror your Mac - 1 screen
I don't know how many apps will have a Vision OS implementation or a good one at that.

I wasn't referring to running apps natively on VisionOS - it's my mistake - I wasn't clear about it.

That's probably down to software and screen mirroring protocol. I'd not expect that to be limited by the CPU or GPU - or let's put it the other way round - in case the CPU and GPU would be the limiting factor the mac Book Air would have serious troubles 🤣

But the MAC mirroring use case is only an extension of the MAC - iPAD APPs will run natively on the AVP and for most tasks there is an iPAD APP and probably developers with enhance them for the AVP - thus the MAC will only be needed for things that don't run on the AVP natively.

Relax - it will be a gorgeous device and with VisionOS 2 Apple needs to provide further functionality. The fact that it does not run more than one screen form the MAC has absolutely no influence on my decision.

 

[Rychiar]

who said that this would be limited by the CPU? In all demos people were able to open APPs and work on multiple windows including a window from a MAC Book PRO - this has been possible even in the iPad PRO from 2018 that I still own and use - it is more a question of RAM and with 16 GB that seems to be on e nice level.

multiple windows FROM the MacBook Pro is what is meant

 

[jo-1]

multiple windows FROM the MacBook Pro is what is meant

can you do more than one screen mirroring today? There is no standard for that. It's probably something for the future VisionOS generation on existing hardware and I would bet a ( put in here your most beloved APPLE accessorie )

Apple is being carefully releasing step boy step improvements. The current status is VisionOS 1.x and not the final status.
By 2027 we'll see AVP 2 and until then we have been using VisionOS 1, 2 and probably 3 too

 

[eno12]

See, it can drive 2 displays.

The base chip has always supported 2 displays. Either 1 HDMI + 1 DP (Mac Mini) or internal + 1 DP (Macbooks). The issue is it does not support 3 or more. Here it has two internal.