Apple’s M2 Pro and M2 Max bring increased CPU and GPU cores to their overall configuration, plus a bunch of other changes. We now see how the company may have arranged all of that in this initial die-shot analysis, where some aspects are disappointing too.
M2 Max will likely share the same schematic as M2 Pro
The analysis was covered by High Yield, showing the different performance and energy-efficient cores, with the GPU cores given at the bottom. This M2 Pro die shot analysis is of the slightly upgraded variant, which features a 12-core CPU and 19-core GPU, along with a 16-core Neural Engine. Earlier, we reported that Apple’s latest 2023 MacBook Pro models were rumored to feature faster and more efficient LPDDR5X RAM.
Unfortunately, over here, we see that Apple stuck with the same LPDDR5 chips as the M2, suggesting that the company will make the switch with the M3 SoC series next year. Also, the fact that Apple chose 19 GPU cores instead of 20 for the M2 Pro puzzles us simply because it is an odd number to choose. Previous SoC releases for the Mac all had GPU cores that were even numbers, so this thought alone led us to speculate that the M2 Pro may have locked GPU cores.
However, High Yield points out that this is not the case, and the M2 Pro does not feature a locked 20th GPU core, meaning that Apple originally stuck with that 19-core GPU configuration in mind. After all, with the M2 Max said to sport the same schematic, the chipset’s bump to a 38-core GPU is an even figure, indicating that Apple had this intention from the very beginning.
The rest of the configuration, ranging from the ‘media engine’ to the SLC cache, can be seen in this M2 Pro analysis, but it is in no way an accurate representation of the actual SoC. The Twitter user points out that he will have a closer inspection of the die shot and provide additional information accordingly, so stay tuned for that.
News Source: High Yield
