Apple M1 Ultra (128GB Unified Memory)
Overview
Apple M1 Ultra is Apple Silicon's first-generation Ultra flagship, announced at WWDC 2022-03-08. It uses UltraFusion interconnect (1st gen) to merge two M1 Max dies into a single chip, delivering 128GB unified memory + 800 GB/s memory bandwidth (the industry's first consumer-grade 128GB UMA solution), marking a milestone in Apple Silicon history.
Historical significance: The M1 Ultra is the founding product of the Apple Silicon Ultra series, laying the architectural foundation for subsequent M2/M3/M4/M5 Ultra generations. It launched with Mac Studio 2022 and was replaced by M2 Ultra in 2023-06.
Core Specifications
| Item | Parameter |
|---|
| Architecture | Apple Silicon (M1 Max × 2, UltraFusion 1.0) |
| Process | TSMC 5nm |
| CPU Cores | 20 (16P + 4E) |
| GPU Cores | 64 |
| Neural Engine | 32-core, 22 TOPS |
| Unified Memory | 64GB / 128GB LPDDR5 |
| Memory Bandwidth | 800 GB/s |
| FP32 GPU | 21 TFLOPS |
| FP16 GPU | 42 TFLOPS |
| Media Engine | Hardware H.264/HEVC/ProRes |
| TDP | 60-120 W |
| Launch Price | Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB: $5,999 (2022-03 launch price) |
| Launch Date | 2022-03-18 (Mac Studio launch) |
| Discontinued | 2023-06 (replaced by M2 Ultra) |
UltraFusion 1.0 Interconnect
| Dimension | UltraFusion 1.0 (M1) | UltraFusion 2.0 (M3+) |
|---|
| Bandwidth | 2.5 TB/s | 2.5 TB/s |
| Channels | 4 channels | 4 channels |
| Latency | ~100ns | ~80ns |
| First appeared | 2022 M1 Ultra | 2023 M3 Ultra |
Key technologies:
- Die-to-die silicon interposer: Similar to TSMC CoWoS
- Transparent to software: System sees a single chip
- Unified memory pool: CPU/GPU/Neural Engine all access 128GB
Apple Silicon Evolution Timeline
| Generation | Flagship | Process | Memory | Bandwidth | CPU Cores | GPU Cores | NE |
|---|
| M1 | M1 Ultra (2022) | 5nm | 128GB | 800 GB/s | 20 (16P+4E) | 64 | 22 TOPS |
| M2 | M2 Ultra (2023) | 5nm | 192GB | 800 GB/s | 24 (16P+8E) | 76 | 31.6 TOPS |
| M3 | M3 Ultra (2023-12) | 3nm | 256GB | 800 GB/s | 32 (24P+8E) | 80 | 72 TOPS |
| M4 | M4 Ultra (2025-Q4 estimated) | 3nm | 256GB | 819 GB/s | 32 (24P+8E) | 80 | 76 TOPS |
| M5 | M5 Ultra (2026 H2 estimated) | 2nm | 384GB | ~1 TB/s | 40 (24P+16E) | 96-120 | ~120 TOPS |
Comparison with M1 Max
| Metric | M1 Ultra | M1 Max | Improvement |
|---|
| Process | 5nm | 5nm | Same |
| CPU Cores | 20 (16P+4E) | 10 (8P+2E) | 2× |
| GPU Cores | 64 | 32 | 2× |
| Neural Engine | 22 TOPS | 11 TOPS | 2× |
| Memory | 128GB LPDDR5 | 64GB LPDDR5 | 2× |
| Bandwidth | 800 GB/s | 400 GB/s | 2× |
| UltraFusion | 2.5 TB/s (dual Max interconnect) | - | New |
| Price (Mac Studio 128GB) | $5,999 | $3,999 | +50% |
| Model | Quantization | Performance (tok/s) | Notes |
|---|
| Llama 2 7B | FP16 | ~35 tok/s | Mainstream |
| Llama 2 13B | Q4_K_M | ~18 tok/s | Performance limited |
| Llama 2 70B | Q4_K_M | ~3-4 tok/s | 128GB can load quantized |
| Llama 1 65B | Q4_K_M | ~4 tok/s | Early model |
| Mistral 7B | Q4_K_M | ~38 tok/s | Very fast |
| Falcon 40B | Q4_K_M | ~6 tok/s | |
| MPT 30B | FP16 | ~5 tok/s | Full load possible |
| Code Llama 34B | Q4_K_M | ~7 tok/s | Coding |
Significance of 128GB M1 Ultra: First time in 2022 that consumer hardware could run a 70B LLM (albeit with Q4 quantization), at a price of $5,999 (far below NVIDIA DGX Station at $50K+).
| Item | Details |
|---|
| Vendor | Apple Inc. |
| Product | Mac Studio (launched 2022-03, discontinued 2023-06) |
| Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB | $5,999 (2022-03 launch price) |
| Discontinued | 2023-06 (replaced by M2 Ultra) |
| Target Market | Creators, local AI (early), ML researchers |
| Historical Position | Founding product of Apple Silicon Ultra series |
Use Cases
- Local LLM inference (128GB UMA, revolutionary in 2022)
- Stable Diffusion 1.x image generation
- Final Cut Pro / Logic Pro hardware acceleration
- 4K video editing
- Early Apple Silicon on-device AI development
- Not suitable for: datacenter training
- Not suitable for: large-scale inference
- Not suitable for: FP8 training (FP16/BF16 only)
M1 Ultra vs M2 Ultra vs M3 Ultra
| Metric | M1 Ultra (2022) | M2 Ultra (2023) | M3 Ultra (2023-12) |
|---|
| Process | 5nm | 5nm (N5P) | 3nm |
| CPU Cores | 20 (16P+4E) | 24 (16P+8E) | 32 (24P+8E) |
| GPU Cores | 64 | 76 | 80 |
| NE | 22 TOPS | 31.6 TOPS | 72 TOPS |
| Memory | 128GB LPDDR5 | 192GB LPDDR5 | 256GB LPDDR5 |
| Bandwidth | 800 GB/s | 800 GB/s | 800 GB/s |
| Price | $5,999 | $5,499 | $5,899 |
Key Features
- UltraFusion 1.0: Industry-first consumer inter-die silicon interconnect at 2.5 TB/s
- 128GB UMA: Largest consumer unified memory in 2022
- 800 GB/s: Among the highest consumer GPU/SoC bandwidths
- 5nm TSMC: First-gen Apple Silicon flagship
- Drawbacks: No FP8 support, $6K price, discontinued
Historical Significance
- 2022 Revolution: First time consumer hardware could run a 70B LLM
- Architecture foundation: M2/M3/M4/M5 Ultra all evolved from this architecture
- Ecosystem beginning: Early llama.cpp / MLX adaptation
- NVIDIA alternative: Starting point for local AI workstations