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
M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max make up a generation Apple never gave a fourth, top-tier “Ultra” chip to. M4 debuted 7 May 2024 — in an iPad, not a Mac 1.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Two later, independent Apple product launches confirm the missing Ultra directly rather than by absence alone: the March 2025 Mac Studio refresh paired a new M4 Max tier with M3 Ultra at the top 2, and the August 2026 Mac Studio refresh then jumped straight from M3 Ultra to M5 Ultra 3 — an M4 Ultra was never inserted at any point.
2.Launch and history
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M4 is the only base-tier Apple Silicon chip in this whole family where Apple has published an exact Neural Engine throughput figure, rather than just a core count.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple’s own words: a 16-core Neural Engine “capable of 38 trillion operations per second (TOPS)” — “60x faster than the first Neural Engine in the A11 Bionic” 1. This is the only chip across the entire M1–M5 family (base, Pro, Max, or Ultra) where this site’s research found an official TOPS number stated for an M-series chip.
3.What’s inside it
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M4: up to 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU. M4 Pro: up to 14-core CPU, up to 20-core GPU. M4 Max: up to 16-core CPU, up to 40-core GPU 45.
Deep diveThe technical detail
M4’s transistor count is Apple-stated: “28 billion transistors” 1. M4 Pro and M4 Max transistor counts are not disclosed by Apple in the October 2024 launch release — checked directly; the release gives core counts and memory bandwidth but no transistor figure for either chip. M4 Pro/Max introduce Thunderbolt 5 at “up to 120Gb/s data transfer” 5.
4.Full spec table
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CPU cores run up to 10 (M4) to up to 16 (M4 Max); memory bandwidth runs 120GB/s (M4) to up to 546GB/s (M4 Max); no M4 Ultra exists 45.
Deep diveThe technical detail
| Spec | M4 | M4 Pro | M4 Max |
|---|
| CPU cores | up to 10 (4P+6E) | up to 14 (10P+4E) | up to 16 (12P+4E) |
|---|
| GPU cores | 10 | up to 20 | up to 40 |
|---|
| Neural Engine | 16-core, 38 TOPS | 16-core (TOPS not stated) | 16-core (TOPS not stated) |
|---|
| Memory bandwidth | 120GB/s | 273GB/s | up to 546GB/s |
|---|
| Max unified memory | Not stated as one figure | up to 64GB | up to 128GB |
|---|
| Transistors | 28 billion | Not disclosed | Not disclosed |
|---|
| Process node | Second-generation 3-nanometer |
|---|
Figures per Apple’s M4 launch release 1, iPad Pro tech-specs page 4, and the M4 Pro/Max launch release 5. There is no M4 Ultra row because Apple never released one.
5.Where it’s made
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Apple describes the whole M4 family as “second-generation 3-nanometer technology” — the same refined node A18 and A18 Pro used for iPhone that same year. No manufacturer is named.
Deep diveThe technical detail
Apple’s own words for M4 Pro/Max: “second-generation 3-nanometer technology” 5 — identical node language to M4 itself. No official Apple or TSMC source names a foundry for any M4-family chip.
6.Which systems use it
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M4: iPad Pro (May 2024), then iMac and Mac mini (October 2024). M4 Pro/Max: 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini (October 2024); M4 Max later also in Mac Studio (March 2025) 1672.
Deep diveThe technical detail
M4 is the first Apple Silicon chip generation to debut in an iPad before any Mac — a full five months before M4 Pro and M4 Max reached MacBook Pro.
7.Official pricing
SimpleStart here
Not applicable. No M4-family chip has ever been sold as a separate, priced component.
Deep diveThe technical detail
No official Apple source lists a standalone chip price for M4, M4 Pro, or M4 Max.
9.What came before, what came next
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Came before: the M3 family. Came after: the M5 family, starting October 2025. No M4 Ultra was ever released — M3 Ultra remained Apple’s top-tier chip through the entire M4 generation.
Deep diveThe technical detail
This makes M4 the only generation between M1 and M5 with a permanently missing tier, rather than a delayed one — M3 Ultra itself arrived 17 months after M3/Pro/Max, but it did arrive; no M4 Ultra ever has, confirmed twice over by the product lineups that followed it 23.
10.Hidden in plain sight
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Apple never once announced that it was skipping an Ultra chip for this generation — the only way to know for certain is to watch what it built next, twice.
Deep diveThe technical detail
No Apple release says “there is no M4 Ultra.” The fact is only confirmed by outside evidence across two later, unrelated launches: the March 2025 Mac Studio pairing M4 Max with M3 Ultra rather than a matching M4 Ultra 2, and the August 2026 Mac Studio jumping directly from M3 Ultra to M5 Ultra 3. Only by cross-referencing both does the gap become certain rather than merely likely.