The Apple M1 chip has been released for a year, and its effect has been recognized by the public. M1, made by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd using its 5nm process nodes, has up to 16 billion transistors, while there are only 11.8 billion transistors inside each A14 bionic chipset. M1 uses the architecture of ARM, similar to the A-Series SoC used on devices such as iPhone and iPad.
Although the M1 version called M1X will provide additional performance for devices such as MacBook Pro 2021, Apple is reported to be developing a sequel to M1, which will be called M2. The latter will be produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd using his 4nm process node. Using a lower process node means M2 will be more powerful and energy efficient than its predecessor, and it may make its debut at MacBook Air in the middle of next year, according to Ming-Ching Kuo, a reliable analyst at TF International.
Both M1X and M2 can be equipped with 10 CPU cores. M1 is equipped with 4 high-performance cores and 4 energy-saving cores with a total of 8 cores. As for the GPU core, there is speculation that the M1X GPU will be equipped with as many as 32 cores. M2 is not expected to have as many GPU cores as M1X.
We can see M2 to be released next year. It is not clear whether Apple will use it for possible 2022 iPad Pro models. The M1 chip powers 2021 iPad Pro tablets, which at least gives users a strong reason why the iPad Pro can be their next computer.
As early as April, there was speculation that M2 had already started mass production and that the chip would start shipping in July. The same rumors call on Apple Inc to use M1 to power future iPad models.
As far as the specifications of M1X and M2 are concerned, Apple Inc has been silent. The new iPhone 13 series, about four weeks from its launch, should be powered by the A15 Bionic, which will be produced by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd using its enhanced 5nm process node. Similarly, M2 is likely to be the first 4nm chipset to be used on Apple devices next year, while the iPhone 14 series should use A16 Bionic manufactured using 3nm process nodes.