Apple M1 vs Apple M1 Max

The M1 Max delivers 4.0x the FP32 throughput of the M1 (10 vs 2.6 TFLOPS dense). The M1 Max also carries 48 GB more memory (64 GB vs 16 GB).

M1: Apple M1, 2020 M1 Max: Apple M1, 2021
FP32 dense lead
4.0x
M1 Max: 10 vs 2.6 TFLOPS
VRAM
16 vs 64 GB
48 GB more for the M1 Max
Bandwidth
67 GB/s vs 400 GB/s
M1 Max moves data faster

Specifications

M1
M1 Max
Architecture
Apple M1Apple M1
Launch Year
20202021
Form Factor
SoCSoC
VRAM
16 GB64 GB
Memory Bandwidth
67 GB/s400 GB/s
TDP
Process Node
5nm5nm

Performance (TFLOPS)

M1
M1 Max
FP32
2.6 TFlops 10.4 TFlops

FLOPS by Precision

What actually differs

The M1 Max is the newer part: Apple M1, launched in 2021, against the M1's Apple M1 from 2020. Newer architectures typically add lower-precision formats and better throughput per watt, so check the precision rows your workload actually uses.

Dense throughput for the M1 against the M1 Max: FP32 2.6 vs 10 TFLOPS. Sparse figures, where the vendor publishes them, appear under each dense number in the performance table.

Memory is 16 GB against 64 GB, fed at 67 GB/s versus 400 GB/s. More memory per GPU means larger models fit before you have to shard across cards, which often matters more than raw TFLOPS for inference.

For LLM training and inference, weight the FP8 and FP16 rows and memory capacity most heavily. For scientific and HPC workloads, the FP64 row is the one to read.

Frequently asked questions

Is the M1 faster than the M1 Max?

At FP32 precision the M1 Max reaches 10 TFLOPS dense against 2.6 TFLOPS for the M1. The performance table on this page lists every published precision for both GPUs.

Which has more memory, the M1 or the M1 Max?

The M1 Max carries 64 GB of VRAM versus 16 GB for the M1. Memory bandwidth is 67 GB/s for the M1 and 400 GB/s for the M1 Max.

Get Comparison Updates

New GPUs added weekly. Be the first to see how they compare.