Apple announced M2 Ultra, a new system on chip (SoC) for the Mac designed to make the new Mac Studio and Mac Pro the most powerful desktops ever.
“There’s never been a better time to switch to a Mac,” CEO Tim Cook declared on a live stream from WWDC. “It’s remarkable how far we’ve taken the Mac. It’s the best and most capable lineup in the history of the personal computer.”
M2 Ultra has 134 billion transistors, an increase of 20 billion over the M1 Ultra, and has 192 GB of memory, 50% more than M1 Ultra. Memory bandwidth is 800 GB/s, twice the M2 Max.
Apple made the M2 Ultra with two M2 Max dies connected through UltraFusion, a custom packaging technology that makes the two chips appear as a single chip to software. It is build on a 5-nanometer process.
In addition, M2 Ultra has a 32 core neural engine for 31.6 trillion operations per second, upt 40% from the M1 Ultra. A media engine is double the capabilities of M2 Max, while a display engine support six Pro Display XDRs, driving more than 100 million pixels. A Secure Enclave runs in the chip with secure boot.
Apple described the M2 Ultra in the new Mac Pro as completing the transition to Apple silicon from that of Intel, a multi-year journey.
Mac Pro in a tower configuration sells for $6,999 and $7,499 in a rack enclosure.
Both Mac Pro and the updated Mac Studio come with MacOS Venture, providing for new productivity features.
Apple also announced a 15.3-inch MacBook Air with the M2 chip. It offers 18 hours of battery life. It starts at $1,299.