Apple has just given details of the M1 chip that will power the next generation of Mac products. The Arm-based 5nm System on Chip (SoC) features an 8-core CPU, 8 GPU cores, a 16 core neural coprocessor, and an updated secure enclave.

The SoC is "by far the highest performance CPU we've ever created," according to John Ternus, VP of hardware engineering who gave details of the M1 Chip during Apple's One More Thing event on November 10.

Apple Silicon Touches Down

The new SoC will power the next-generation MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini and blends high performance with low power. It looks to be a significant upgrade, much like the recently announced iPad Air redesign.

The CPU contains four cores optimized for speed, and four designed for efficiency, combined with low-latency data transfer between system components. Thunderbolt and USB 4 are supported by the new SoC, which features advanced image signal processing and media encoding and decoding engines.

High performance with a low power cost was the main focus of the reveal, and the new hardware reportedly gives better CPU performance per watt than anything currently available. Apple claims the M1 gives the same peak performance of a PC CPU at only a quarter of the power draw.

M1 overview

Low power performance also extends to the 8-core GPU, which Apple says is currently the world's fastest integrated graphics system.

Apple is using unified memory architecture, allowing both the CPU and GPU to access shared single memory addresses, significantly increasing data bandwidth and reducing latency.

If it works the way Apple is saying it will, the M1 will be a bold first outing for Apple Silicon. In Apple's own words, "The Mac has never had a chip upgrade this profound."