Apple Announces M4 Max Chip: Up to 16-Core CPU, Up to 40-Core GPU, Up to 128GB of RAM, and More - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Announces M4 Max Chip: Up to 16-Core CPU, Up to 40-Core GPU, Up to 128GB of RAM, and More

Apple today announced the M4 Max chip alongside new MacBook Pro models—its most advanced and powerful Apple silicon chip to date.

Apple M4 chip series hero
Like the M4 chip introduced in the iPad Pro and the M4 Pro chip unveiled yesterday in the redesigned Mac mini, the M4 Max chips are fabricated with TSMC's enhanced 3nm (N3E) process. Apple's senior vice president of Hardware Technologies Johny Srouji said:

Apple silicon has taken the Mac to unprecedented heights, and the rapid pace of innovation continues with M4 Pro and M4 Max. With the world's fastest CPU core, immensely more powerful GPUs, and the fastest Neural Engine ever, the power-efficient performance and capabilities of the M4 family extend its lead as the most advanced lineup of chips in the industry.

The M4 Max's 16-core CPU contains 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores, making it 2.2x faster than the M1 Max. The GPU contains up to 40 cores for performance up to 1.9x faster than the ‌M1 Max‌. The M4 Max supports up to 128GB of unified memory with up to 546GB/s of memory bandwidth. The chip also contains an enhanced Media Engine with two video encode engines and two ProRes accelerators. Like the M4 Pro chip, the M4 Max supports Thunderbolt 5 with up to 120Gb/s data transfer capability.


Apple also today drew attention to the M4 and M4 Pro chip, with the M4 Max completing the new chip lineup. Apple's new MacBook Pro models are available with either the M4, M4 Pro, or M4 Max chips, depending on the model and configuration.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.4 Adds Two New Features to CarPlay

Tuesday March 24, 2026 1:55 pm PDT by
iOS 26.4 was released today, and it includes a couple of new features for CarPlay: an Ambient Music widget and support for voice-based chatbot apps. To update your iPhone 11 or newer to iOS 26.4, open the Settings app and tap on General → Software Update. CarPlay will automatically offer the new features so long as the iPhone connected to your vehicle is running iOS 26.4 or later....
Apple Business hero

Apple Unveils 'Apple Business' All-in-One Platform

Tuesday March 24, 2026 8:53 am PDT by
Apple today announced Apple Business, a new all-in-one platform that unifies device management, productivity tools, and customer outreach features. The service is designed to be a consolidated replacement for several of Apple's existing business-focused offerings, including Apple Business Essentials, Apple Business Manager, and Apple Business Connect. It provides organizations with a single...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday March 24, 2026 12:31 pm PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and the AirPods 4. The firmware has a version number of 8B39, up from 8B34 on the AirPods Pro 3, 8B28 on the AirPods Pro 2, and 8B21 on the AirPods 4. There is no word on what's included in the firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance...

Top Rated Comments

macduke Avatar
18 months ago
Damn, the M4 Max (low) only supports 36GB memory. For comparison, the M3 Max (low) supported up to 96GB. Apple is really squeezing people to upgrade to the topmost spec to get more memory. What's even crazier is the M4 Pro in the Mac mini can be configured to 64GB memory but in the MacBook Pro the M4 Pro is limited to 48GB. Why??
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
18 months ago
no wifi 7 :(
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
18 months ago

Like 4 people in the world are set up with WiFi 7.
Interesting comment. When companies like Apple start producing more WiFi 7 devices that will make people like me upgrade to WiFi 7. I am sure others would agree and would upgrade to WiFi 7 too. I think anything Apple releases now should be WiFi 7. Makes no sense that iPhone 16 Pro’s are WiFi 7 capable, but all the new devices announced this week are not.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
18 months ago
I'm extremely disappointed that Apple did not increase the RAM on the top end M4 Max. We need more RAM for our generative AI (LLM) workloads, and this isn't getting it done. 48 GB sticks are available commercially; they could have slotted 4 x 48 GB modules for 192 GB on the top end. Why didn't they? Why?

+15% CPU and +20% GPU isn't gonna get it done. Sorry Apple, I'm skipping this generation. Your inability to ship more RAM just cost you at least $8k from me.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mazz0 Avatar
18 months ago
Why can't you get the Max in a Mac Mini? If the cooling in the MacBook Pro is sufficient you'd think the cooling in the Mini would be too (even the new tiny one). Probably to help them differentiate the Studio (and charge extra for it).
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
CWallace Avatar
18 months ago
My guess is that the M4 Ultra will be two M4 Max with the UltraFusion interconnector so that is going to be a beast at up to 32 CPU and 80 GPU cores and 256GB of RAM.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)