Can Apple’s UltraFusion Technology Mean That M2 Is Still A While Away?

Summary

The article discusses Apple's UltraFusion technology, questioning the timeline for the release of the M2 chip and suggesting that Apple may continue to iterate on the M1 architecture using UltraFusion to combine multiple chips, potentially delaying the introduction of the M2.

Abstract

The author of the article expresses skepticism about the immediate future of Apple's chip development, particularly concerning the anticipated M2 chip. Apple's unexpected revelation of the UltraFusion technology, which allows for the combination of multiple M1 chips into a single, more powerful unit, such as the M1 Ultra, leads to speculation that Apple could continue enhancing the M1 series instead of swiftly moving to an M2. The article criticizes the lack of disclosure from both Apple and industry rumormongers about the existence of UltraFusion and ponders whether this technology could extend the lifecycle of the M1 architecture. With the introduction of the Mac Studio equipped with the M1 Ultra, the author posits that Apple may not rush the release of the M2 or the new Mac Pro, as the current offerings already surpass previous Intel-based models. The piece also touches on the potential of further advancements within the M1 family, possibly through additional fusing techniques, and questions whether the M2 will only emerge with a shift to an even smaller silicon node, potentially aligning with TSMC's 3nm commercialization.

Opinions

The author feels that Apple has been less than transparent about the capabilities of the M1 architecture, particularly with the surprise introduction of UltraFusion technology.
There is a sense of disappointment directed at technology analysts and rumor sources for not uncovering UltraFusion before its official announcement by Apple.
The article implies that Apple's product announcements between October 2021 and March 2022 lacked significant innovation, with the author describing them as minimal effort.
The author suggests that the Mac Studio, powered by the M1 Ultra, effectively serves as a replacement for the anticipated 27-inch iMac, iMac Pro, and Mac Pro until the actual Mac Pro is updated with Apple Silicon.
The piece conveys a critical view of the Studio Display, implying that it may not live up to the expectations set by its marketing and predecessors.
The author speculates that Apple could continue to extend the M1 line by fusing more chips together, potentially postponing the release of the M2 chip until the company can utilize a smaller node, such as TSMC's 3nm process.
The article humorously suggests that Apple could introduce increasingly advanced products, like a "Mac Infinity," by continuing to leverage and expand upon the M1 architecture's capabilities.
The author expresses a personal view that the M2 chip's release might be further away than fans anticipate, possibly not arriving until early 2023, despite the repeated "next year" expectations.

If they “glued” two M1s together, they can probably glue three, four… as well…?

Allow me a second to clear my mind, pull my home-pod mini out of the drawer, set it on an Apple polishing cloth, shake in one hand a set of Apple Mac Pro wheels in an Apple-branded bag while with the other hand levitating above the home-pod, I ask Siri the ultimate question — what the future holds. Siri’s response is the ever so reliable “Sorry, I don’t know that one.” which leaves me to rely on my own imagination, and boy after a couple of glasses of 65% Hungarian pálinka, I definitely have some wild ideas! F*ck you, Siri, if you’d be my girlfriend, you’d probably be shite in bed too… The cheek o’ her…

Here’s the thing, though. Apple lied to us. I feel positively cheated. Not just by Apple, but by all the “roumourists” out there, who somehow didn’t stumble upon this one in the last two years. We’re all relying on youse to spoil the fun at least a few days, but preferably weeks, before Apple Tim comes on stage and pretends there’s a live audience somewhere. Apple’s UltraFusion tech was a better kept secret than Putin’s plan to attack Ukraine. That says something, doesn’t it? I’m not sure what, but I’m sure one of ye intelligent readers will figure it out and let me know in the comments!

So, UltraFusion. Where the bloody hell did that sucker come from?!? Apparently from nowhere, and it was there all along in the M1 Max chip! Who knew?!? Well, Apple did, but that begs the question, what else does Apple know and doesn’t tell us about the M1 architecture? On the 8th of March, they announced with modest fanfare that it was there all along, and it enabled them to create the M1 Ultra. This makes me think they didn’t do much between October 2021 and March 2022, did they?

They threw the M1 into the iPad Air. Well, that was easy, just do what you did with the iPad Pro a year before. More or less a copy-paste job. iPhone SE3 is the same old, tired relic with last year’s Bionic A15, so that’s been done before too, and OK, fine we have a new Studio Display but is it really that new? Maybe I have a lot of imagination, but take a gander at the 24” iMac design, another look at the Pro Display XDR, cross your eyes for a second, and you basically get the Studio Display. Minimal effort, I tell you. Minimal.

And then we have the beast of beasts, the one St. John in the book of Revelations talks about — the Mac Studio, where this UltraFusion lives in the form of M1 Ultra. Now of course this confused everyone because where is the 27” iMac, where is the iMac Pro, where is the Mac Pro?!? OMG, the horror! But apparently it wasn’t in simple enough English, as only people like me, for whom English is a 3rd language, understood the message. This is it. The Mac Studio is the 27” iMac, and the iMac Pro… aaaand also the Mac Pro, until the actual Mac Pro arrives as the last one to move from Intel to Apple Silicon.

But all this outside confusion, and the two glasses of pálinka inside me, got me thinking. We have all been waiting on the M2. I mean, we have all been waiting for the M2 since the day the M1 was launched. Plenty of naysayers out there were like “ugh, ugh, first-generation silicon, me no like, waiting on the second coming of Jesus Christ, I mean the second coming of the M”. But funnily enough, just like the followers of Nostradamus keep claiming the end of the world is “next year”, so seems to be the coming of the M2. Now, obviously, it’s an educated enough guess that at some point there will be an M2, simply because there is an M1, but these iterations might be a lot further apart than everyone is expecting. Why? Because UltraFusion! Have you not been paying attention? I know my articles tend to be more than a minute-long read, but for the love of everything that’s Apple, hold your focus for 120 hertz, I mean seconds — the former of which we don’t have in the Studio Display, by the way. Studio, my ass… But I digress.

Humour me and my imagination for a second. OK, ten seconds… Say Apple in the summer says again, there was something else in the M1 that allows them to fuse together a regular M1, same for the M1 Pro, heck, maybe the M1 Max can be fused on all four sides with other M1 Maxes and goes as high as 5 chips working as one! It’s like The Three Musketeers, D’artagnan and whoever’s girlfriend got there first and had a sword! The thing is, we know very little about Apple’s UltraFusion tech. We know what we have been told, very high-level details, but not enough to enable us to truly understand what happens under the hood. This incredibly high-speed connection-point was there all along, and nobody else caught it, not even JerryRigEverything, and that guys tares apart everything. Scratches at a level 6 with deeper grooves at a level 7. No UltraFusion discovery though. Not even iFixit or bloody Intel, who are scrambling to get something out there to give Apple at least some resemblance of competition.

What if M2 — which is definitely coming “next year” — is not going to happen until Apple moves their silicon to an even smaller node? It’s no secret that TSMC is working on commercialising 3nm this very year! That could very well mean an M2 in early 2023. The truth is, regardless of how much the fans are awaiting the new Mac Pro, Apple doesn’t have to rush it at all. The Mac Studio is already way past what the Intel Mac Pro ever offered. In the meanwhile, they can just fuse together some more chips, reveal some more previously conveniently unmentioned features of the M1 and turn it into a bloody levitating cube inside a transparent sapphire (though, to Jerry’s disappointment, will still scratch at a level 7) box and call it the… Mac Infinity!

Right. That exhausted all my imagination for the night, and will be telling Siri to turn off the lights. That, I know she can do! If you liked this article, subscribe, clap, comment, become a paying Medium member, so I get half of that sweet dollah. If you didn’t like it, you can still be nice and subscribe, clap, comment and become a paying member, I’ll appreciate it, even if you don’t appreciate my style! 😁

Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, Lego fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer!

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