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 * M3
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M4 ALREADY? HERE’S WHY APPLE IS ABANDONING THE M3 CHIP LINE SO FAST

Ryan Christoffel | May 10 2024 - 7:22 am PT
6 Comments

One of the biggest surprises from Apple’s ‘Let loose’ event was the arrival of a
new M4 chip in the iPad Pro. It may not have been quite as surprising as Apple
originally hoped, but heading into the event there was still a lot of doubt and
no real consensus on what chip would power the new iPad Pro.

Yet Apple made the bold move of shipping the very first M4 chip in the iPad.
Leaving us all to wonder: why? And what exactly is wrong with the M3 line?


WHY THE M4’S DEBUT MADE NO SENSE

Leading up to the iPad Pro’s announcement, M4 doubters had a pretty strong case
on their side. The M3 had just launched last October, for starters. Also, the M3
version of Apple’s most popular Mac, the MacBook Air, was released barely two
months ago. Surely we were going to ride out the M3 era for a while, right?

Besides all of that, why would Apple debut the M4 in an iPad of all devices? It
would be a first, and especially strange timing considering the recent Mac
launches.

So what happened?


TROUBLE IN 3-NANOMETER LAND

Apple hasn’t provided an exact reason for moving to the M4 so quickly, but it’s
pretty easy to put the pieces together based on what has been shared.

Both in the keynote and on its press newsroom, Apple explicitly chose to call
out a revealing detail about the M4 chip.

From the M4 announcement:

> Built using second-generation 3-nanometer technology.

The M3 chip and its siblings were the first Apple silicon generation to use a
3-nanometer fabrication process. But that process was clearly lacking, as the M4
arrives via an entirely new, reconfigured method.

This isn’t altogether unsurprising. Last April, reports surfaced that Apple’s
initial move to a 3-nanometer process for its chips was causing noteworthy yield
issues for what would eventually become the M3 line.

Per EE Times:

> Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) is straining to meet demand from
> top customer Apple for 3-nm chips. The company’s tool and yield struggles have
> impeded the ramp to volume production with world-leading technology, according
> to analysts surveyed by EE Times

Apple moving on from the M3 so quickly, while highlighting that the M4 uses
second-generation 3-nanometer tech, all points to some clear ongoing problems
with the original M3 fabrication process. It seems there were continuing
inefficiencies and yield issues with that original process, and Apple wasn’t
content dealing with those problems any longer.


M4 INTRODUCES A MORE EFFECTIVE PROCESS

In summary, moving to the M4 not only means that Apple customers get a more
powerful chip in their devices. It also allows Apple to minimize the losses
associated with manufacturing the M3.

The original 3-nanometer process was plagued by poor performance, and Apple is
wasting no time cutting its losses and embracing something better.



The M3 itself is still a remarkable chip, and anyone using an M3-powered Mac
should have no concerns about its reliability or capability moving forward. But
Apple wasn’t pleased with the friction it encountered when making the chip, so
it’s moving on to a better process and, along with it, a better chip.

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AUTHOR

Ryan Christoffel iryantldr

Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for
four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he
co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As
a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the
iPad Pro.





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