Apple M1

Apple M1
Image of an M1 processor inside the 2020 Mac Mini. The two black chips on the right are the LPDDR4X unified memory.
General information
LaunchedNovember 10, 2020 (2020-11-10)[1]
DiscontinuedMay 7, 2024 (2024-05-07)
Designed byApple Inc.
Common manufacturer(s)
Performance
Max. CPU clock rate3.2 GHz[1]
Cache
L1 cachePerformance cores: 192+128 KB per core
Efficiency cores: 128+64 KB per core
L2 cachePerformance Cores: 12–48 MB
Efficiency Cores: 4–8 MB
Last level cache8–96 MB
Architecture and classification
ApplicationDesktop (Mac Mini, iMac, Mac Studio), notebook (MacBook family), tablet (iPad Pro and iPad Air)
Technology node5 nm
Microarchitecture"Firestorm" and "Icestorm"[1]
Instruction setARMv8.5-A[2]
Physical specifications
Transistors
  • M1: 16 billion[3]
  • M1 Pro: 33.7 billion
  • M1 Max: 57 billion
  • M1 Ultra: 114 billion
Cores
  • 8–20 (4–16 high-performance + 2 or 4 high-efficiency)
Memory (RAM)
  • M1: 4266 MT/s LPDDR4X memory (8 or 16 GB)
  • M1 Pro: 6400MT/s LPDDR5 memory (16 or 32 GB)
  • M1 Max: 32 or 64 GB
  • M1 Ultra: 64 or 128 GB
GPU(s)Apple-designed integrated graphics (7–64 cores)
Products, models, variants
Variant(s)
History
Predecessor(s)Intel Core and Apple T2 chip (Mac)

Apple A12Z (iPad Pro)

Apple A14 (iPad Air)
Successor(s)Apple M2

Apple M1 is a series of ARM-based system-on-a-chip (SoC) designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series, as a central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) for its Mac desktops and notebooks, and the iPad Pro and iPad Air tablets.[4] The M1 chip initiated Apple's third change to the instruction set architecture used by Macintosh computers, switching from Intel to Apple silicon fourteen years after they were switched from PowerPC to Intel, and twenty-six years after the transition from the original Motorola 68000 series to PowerPC. At the time of its introduction in 2020, Apple said that the M1 had the world's fastest CPU core "in low power silicon" and the world's best CPU performance per watt.[4][5] Its successor, Apple M2, was announced on June 6, 2022, at Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC).

The original M1 chip was introduced in November 2020, and was followed by the professional-focused M1 Pro and M1 Max chips in October 2021. The M1 Max is a higher-powered version of the M1 Pro, with more GPU cores and memory bandwidth, a larger die size, and a large used interconnect. Apple introduced the M1 Ultra in 2022, a desktop workstation chip containing two interconnected M1 Max units. These chips differ largely in size and the number of functional units: for example, while the original M1 has about 16 billion transistors, the M1 Ultra has 114 billion.

Apple's macOS and iPadOS operating systems both run on the M1. Initial support for the M1 SoC in the Linux kernel was released in version 5.13 on June 27, 2021.[6]

The initial versions of the M1 chips contain an architectural defect that permits sandboxed applications to exchange data, violating the security model, an issue that has been described as "mostly harmless".[7]

  1. ^ a b c Frumusanu, Andrei (November 17, 2020), The 2020 Mac Mini Unleashed: Putting Apple Silicon M1 To The Test, archived from the original on 2021-02-01, retrieved 2020-11-18
  2. ^ "llvm-project/llvm/include/llvm/TargetParser/AArch64TargetParser.h at main · llvm/llvm-project · GitHub". GitHub. 30 November 2023. Retrieved 30 November 2023.
  3. ^ Shankland, Stephen. "M1 Pro and M1 Max: Here's how Apple is kicking Intel out of the Mac computer". CNET. Archived from the original on 2022-04-30. Retrieved 2021-10-26.
  4. ^ a b "The Apple M1 is the first ARM-based chipset for Macs with the fastest CPU cores and top iGPU". GSMArena.com. Archived from the original on 2021-01-25. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  5. ^ Sohail, Omar (2020-11-10). "Apple's 5nm M1 Chip Is the First for ARM-Based Macs – Boasts 2x More Performance Than Latest Laptop CPU, Uses One-Fourth the Power". Wccftech. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
  6. ^ Adorno, José (2021-06-28). "Linux Kernel 5.13 officially launches with support for M1 Macs". 9to5Mac. Archived from the original on 2021-06-28. Retrieved 2021-06-29.
  7. ^ Goodin, Dan (2021-05-28). "Covert channel in Apple's M1 is mostly harmless, but it sure is interesting". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2021-07-27. Retrieved 2021-11-18.

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