Apple's M4 Chip with 38 TOPS Ignites the AI Performance Race

Apple has recently announced its latest innovation, the M4 chip, which boasts a whopping 38 TOPS (trillion operations per second). This new chip is a significant upgrade and will first be implemented in the next generation of iPads, with plans to integrate it into the best Macbooks and Macs in the future.

What is TOPS and Why it Matters?

TOPS, which stands for 'trillion operations per second', is considered a critical measure of a chip's AI capabilities. Higher TOPS means faster AI performance on the chip – such as faster processing by the Neural Engine present on the Apple M4 chip. Apple's M4 chip is more than twice as powerful as the A16 Bionic chip in the iPhone 14 Pro, which offered 17 TOPS.

Qualcomm's upcoming Snapdragon X Elite, which offers 45 TOPS, is also about to hit the market. It is set to feature in upcoming Windows laptops, posing competition to Apple's M4 chip.

Understanding TOPS Calculation

Measuring AI performance through TOPS may seem complicated, but it's quite simple. TOPS is calculated by multiplying the MAC unit count of an NPU by 2, then by the frequency, and dividing by a trillion. Essentially, it calculates how many operations per second an NPU can process, giving consumers an understandable measure of a processor's AI performance.

The Importance of TOPS

TOPS provides a clear and convenient way for both industry professionals and general consumers to compare the AI performance of different devices. It is important for on-device AI, which is seeing increasing use in professional software, such as Adobe Creative Cloud's suite. Though not perfect, TOPS remains our best theoretical metric to judge local AI workloads.

With rising demand for local AI, expect to see more performance tests and benchmarks soon, offering a more realistic insight into the true AI capabilities of devices like the M4 chip-equipped iPads and Macbooks.