The M2 chip, which Apple introduced at WWDC 2022, is the company's self-designed Apple Silicon M2 chip. The M2 chip is scheduled to power most Mac products in the entry-level category for the foreseeable future. In line with Apple's current practices, the M2 chip was accompanied by graphs that suggested an 18% boost in CPU performance over the M1 chip while using the same amount of energy. As usual, Apple made performance improvements claims for the M2 chip.
However, these claims were not backed by third-party benchmark results that chipmakers commonly use as supporting material. This time, real-world benchmark results have been awaited before making a purchase, just as usual. The first M2 benchmarks started appearing shortly before the products became available, and, according to the first benchmark on Geekbench, Apple's claim that performance has increased by nearly 20 percent seems plausible.
The 13-inch MacBook Pro, which was released last month, boasts an M2 chip that runs at a faster clock speed than the M1-powered models. On the Geekbench single-core test, this chip scores 1919 points, compared to around 1700 on the M1-powered machines. As a result, the M2 chip is 12% faster than the M1 model, which scores around 1700 points on single core. The new M2 MacBook Pro, on the other hand, scores 8928 points as opposed to 7419 on the old M1-powered machines.
The 10-core GPU on the Apple M2 chip also helped it score 30627 points in the Metal benchmark. This is a significant improvement over the score of 21001 by the M1 chip that featured an 8-core GPU.
Consumers will need to wait a few more days for the new M2-powered Macs. It's unclear when the next M2-powered MacBook Air will be available for purchase, but Apple has confirmed that preorders for the new MacBook Pro will begin June 17.