Apple M2 SoC Analysis - Worse CPU efficiency compared to the M1

The single-core benchmarks benefit from the higher clock of the performance cores, because the new M2 SoC is not only faster than the old M1, but also every other M1 variant including Pro, Max, and even Ultra. They all use the same performance cores with the same clock we know from the M1, so the new M2 MacBooks offer the best single-core performance in Apple's portfolio right now. All in all, the advantage is between 6-8 percent depending on the benchmark.

The higher clock requires more power, because the old M1 consumed ~3.7 Watts and the new M2 requires ~5.3 Watts. The M1 Pro models consume even more at 7 Watts, but they are much larger chips with more cores. This means that the single-core efficiency of the new M2 is about 26 % worse compared to the old M1 processor.

The performance improvements compared to the old M1 are bigger in multi-core scenarios since all 8 cores benefit from higher clocks. We can see a maximum improvement of 18 % in Geekbench 5, which is also advertised by Apple. The advantage is a bit smaller in Cinebench R23, and we get an average performance increase of around 15 %.

The M1 Pro CPUs still have a big advantage in multi-core benchmarks, at least the 10-core versions (+40 %) with 8 performance cores. The 8-core model of the M1 Pro in the entry-level MacBook Pro 14 only uses 6 performance cores, so the advantage over the new M2 is much smaller at around 10 %.

This performance advantage of 15 % on average countered by an additional power consumption of 35-40 %, so the overall efficiency is 20-25 % lower. The new M2 is therefore almost on par with the M1 Pro chips with 10 CPU cores.

Intel's new Alder Lake-P chips offer both more single-core as well as multi-core performance compared to the Apple M2 (the Geekbench 5 single-core test is the only exception). However, this is only the case for the chips with high TDP numbers; the Alder Lake-P CPU in the Samsung Galaxy Book2 at 20 Watts, for example, is not competitive at all.

The new AMD Ryzen 7 6800U is slower than the M2 in single-core tests, but has an advantage of 20 % in Cinebench R23 Multi. However, the Apple M2 performs very well in Geekbench 5 and is once again ahead of the 6800U. If you combine all the results, the new M2 is actually ahead of the Ryzen 7 6800U in the performance rating.

Even though the efficiency of the new M2 is much worse compared to the old M1 chip, the M2 is still significantly better than the rivals from AMD and Intel. The efficiency is much higher in single-core scenarios and the Alder Lake chips fall behind with the high consumption of the performance cores (25-30 Watts). AMD is a bit better with the Ryzen 7 6800U, but it also consumes more than 15 Watts in single-core scenarios, despite the lower performance.

Intel's current mobile CPUs are also much worse in terms of multi-core efficiency, even though the difference is not as big as in the single-core tests. The Ryzen 7 6800U on the other hand can almost completely close the gap, at least when we look at Cinebench R23.

We evaluate the performance of the new M2 GPU with the native benchmarks 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Unlimited as well as Geekbench and GFXBench, which use the Metal API. The new M2 variants fit well into the existing MacBook lineup, because the new 8-core M2 GPU is around 16 % faster than the 8-core version of the M1. The 10-core version of the M2 is another 19 % faster.

Despite the higher performance, the power consumption of the 8-core M2 GPU is actually just a little bit higher compared to the M1 8-core GPU. The M2 is very linear in terms of scaling and the 10-core version obviously consumes more power, but both models are 11 % more efficient than the old M1 GPU.