How to read this page. Each section starts Simple, then goes to a Deep dive: stop wherever you have what you need. The small numbers are sources: click one to open the original document. Where the maker has not published a figure -- a price, a die size, a factory address -- this page says so rather than estimate it.
1.At a glance
SimpleStart here
M1 is the chip that started the Mac’s transition off Intel processors, announced 10 November 2020. Apple grew the family into three more chips — M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra — over the next 16 months 123.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple’s own framing: M1 is “Apple’s first chip designed specifically for the Mac,” the start of “a family of chips designed by Apple specifically for the Mac” 4.
2.Launch and history
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M1 Ultra is built by physically fusing two M1 Max chips together — not a bigger single die, but two complete chips connected so closely the Mac sees them as one.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple calls this “UltraFusion”: “a silicon interposer that connects the chips across more than 10,000 signals, providing a massive 2.5TB/s of low latency, inter-processor bandwidth — more than 4x the bandwidth of the leading multi-chip interconnect technology” 3. Apple’s own text does not explicitly call this “Apple’s first two-die chip” in so many words — that framing is this page’s own reasonable inference from the UltraFusion description, not a verbatim Apple quote.
3.What’s inside it
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M1: 8-core CPU, 7- or 8-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine. M1 Pro: 8- or 10-core CPU, 14- or 16-core GPU. M1 Max: 10-core CPU, 24- or 32-core GPU. M1 Ultra: 20-core CPU, 48- or 64-core GPU, 32-core Neural Engine 563.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Transistor counts, all Apple-stated: M1 “16 billion” 1; M1 Pro “33.7 billion transistors, more than 2x the amount in M1” 2; M1 Max “the largest chip Apple has ever built: 57 billion transistors” 2; M1 Ultra “114 billion transistors”, described as “the most ever in a personal computer chip” 3. M1 Ultra’s process node is not restated explicitly in either the M1 Ultra or Mac Studio (2022) Newsroom releases — both were checked directly; this page reports 5-nanometer for M1 Ultra by inheritance from the shared M1 Max die design, not as an independently confirmed Apple statement for the Ultra chip specifically.
4.Full spec table
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CPU cores run 8 (M1) to 20 (M1 Ultra); memory bandwidth runs 200GB/s (M1 Pro) to 800GB/s (M1 Ultra); max unified memory runs 16GB (M1) to 128GB (M1 Ultra) 5768.
Deep diveThe technical detail
| Spec | M1 | M1 Pro | M1 Max | M1 Ultra |
|---|
| CPU cores | 8 (4P+4E) | 8 or 10 | 10 | 20 (16P+4E) |
|---|
| GPU cores | 7 or 8 | 14 or 16 | 24 or 32 | 48 or 64 |
|---|
| Neural Engine | 16-core, 11 TOPS | 16-core | 16-core | 32-core, 22 TOPS |
|---|
| Max unified memory | 16GB | 32GB | 64GB | 128GB |
|---|
| Memory bandwidth | Not disclosed | 200GB/s | up to 400GB/s | 800GB/s |
|---|
| Transistors | 16 billion | 33.7 billion | 57 billion | 114 billion |
|---|
| Process node | 5 nanometer |
|---|
Figures per Apple’s own Newsroom launch releases for each chip 123 and matching tech-specs pages 568. M1’s memory bandwidth is not disclosed in any official source found.
5.Where it’s made
SimpleStart here
Apple states all four M1-family chips use 5-nanometer process technology. No manufacturer is named for any of them.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple’s own wording for M1: “5-nanometer process technology” 1; for M1 Pro: “the industry-leading 5-nanometer process technology” 2; for M1 Ultra, no node is separately restated (see the architecture section above). No official Apple or TSMC source names TSMC as the manufacturer for this generation — the foundry link commonly assumed in secondary coverage is not independently confirmed by either company for M1.
6.Which systems use it
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M1: MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini (2020), iMac 24-inch (2021). M1 Pro/Max: 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro (2021), and M1 Max also in Mac Studio (2022). M1 Ultra: Mac Studio only (2022) 4910.
Deep diveThe technical detail
M1 also shipped in the 2021 iPad Pro — a non-Mac device noted here for completeness, though outside this page’s Mac-focused scope.
7.Official pricing
SimpleStart here
Not applicable. Apple has never listed a standalone chip-level price for any M1-family chip; the cost is bundled into the price of the Mac.
Deep diveThe technical detail
No official Apple source lists a separate SKU or price for M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max, or M1 Ultra — this page found no such listing across Newsroom or the Apple online store.
9.What came before, what came next
SimpleStart here
Came before: Intel processors (the entire prior Mac lineup). Came after: the M2 family, starting June 2022.
Deep diveThe technical detail
M1 Ultra completed the Mac’s transition to Apple silicon for the highest tier of desktop, though Mac Pro itself would not get an Apple-silicon option until the M2 Ultra Mac Pro arrived in 2023.
10.Hidden in plain sight
SimpleStart here
Apple never actually uses the phrase “first two-die chip” to describe M1 Ultra — that’s an inference from how UltraFusion is described, not something Apple says outright.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Checked directly against both the M1 Ultra and Mac Studio (2022) Newsroom releases: neither contains an explicit “first” claim about building a chip from two dies 310. Apple describes the mechanism (UltraFusion, the interposer, the bandwidth figure) in detail, but leaves the “this has never been done before” framing to the reader rather than stating it as a claim of its own.