Apple’s (AAPL) AI push has begun. On Tuesday, the company revealed its latest iPad Pros featuring an all-new M4 processor. The chip gives the Pro a number of benefits, including a faster processor and an updated graphics processing unit.
But it was Apple’s emphasis on the M4’s AI capabilities that stood out the most. Apple has been integrating its Neural Engine into processors since 2017 and has already explained how it helps power a number of iPhone, iPad, and Mac features for some time.
But the M4’s presentation was different, serving as an appetizer to the AI features the company will offer at its WWDC event in June, when Apple is expected to launch a series of AI-based generative software features for its various devices.
The M4 and AI
Apple highlighted a number of the M4’s true AI capabilities during the keynote, with VP of Platform Architecture Tim Millet specifically noting that the chip is capable of performing 34,000 billion operations per second, a commonly used metric to describe a chip’s AI performance.
Millet also said that the M4’s neural engine is more powerful than any neural processing unit in any AI PC. This is a direct shot at Intel (INTC), AMD (AMD) and Qualcomm (QCOM), which are preparing or already deploying their own AI PC chips designed to run large language models on laptops and computers. Windows desktop.
Outside of the fundamentals of the M4’s AI processing, Apple has remained silent on any substantive discussion of AI software updates. Sure, Millet said the M4 helps the iPad Pro quickly isolate a subject from its background in 4K video, but the M2-equipped iPad Air can do the same thing, just a little slower . All the company had to offer was that the M4 would enable AI applications and features to run faster and easier.
The company also did not provide information on the M4’s performance when training or running large language models (LLMs), which Intel, Qualcomm, and AMD regularly cite as indicators of strengths. of their chips.
Still, the fact that Apple has given consumers and Wall Street a first look at its thinking on AI is significant.
The company is widely considered to be a laggard when it comes to the generative AI race, and investors are betting big on WWDC, which will be Apple’s big AI party.
CEO Tim Cook has regularly mentioned AI in recent months and said during the company’s most recent earnings conference call that the iPhone maker was investing heavily in the technology.
This includes buying up smaller AI companies and, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, discussions with OpenAI and Google about potentially using their large language models to power Apple’s AI experiments.
Analysts expect Apple’s generative AI offerings to serve as a catalyst to help boost iPhone sales at a time when consumers are increasingly clinging to their…
