Early Geekbench 6 benchmarks show Apple’s new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips deliver major performance improvements for Macs. Most surprisingly, the M4 Pro chip outperforms even the previously top-tier M2 Ultra chip in multi-core performance, despite having fewer CPU cores. And the higher-end M4 Max proves even more impressive, of course.
So if you’re on the fence about upgrading to a Mac with either of these chips, these results should encourage you.
Early benchmarks show M4 Pro and M4 Max processors’ big-time performance gains in
Early Geekbench 6 benchmark results show impressive performance improvements for the new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. The most powerful Apple silicon processors to date are currently available for preorder in the M4 Pro Mac mini and the M4 Pro MacBook Pro, with the truly stupendous M4 Max chip available only in the top-end MacBook Pro.
Even M4 Pro surpasses M2 Ultra
Let’s single out some M4 Pro highlights. The M4 Pro chip, featuring a 14-core CPU configuration, achieved an impressive average multi-core score of 22,094 across 11 different Geekbench 6 results. This surpasses the M2 Ultra chip’s average score of 21,351 (averaged from over 600 results). The difference in the scores is not massive, but it’s a remarkable achievement considering the M2 Ultra features 24 CPU cores compared to the M4 Pro’s 14 cores.
In single-core performance, the M4 Pro scored 3,925 points, representing a 25% improvement over its predecessor, the M3 Pro (3,138). The multi-core performance gain is even more dramatic, showing a 46% increase compared to the M3 Pro’s score of 15,480. The new chip owes part of that substantial improvement to higher clock speeds, with the M4 Pro reaching 4.51 GHz compared to the M3 Pro’s 4.06 GHz.
M4 Max raises the bar further
The M4 Max chip, featuring 16 CPU cores (12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores), has posted even more impressive results. Early Geekbench 6 benchmarks show the chip achieving a single-core score of 4,060 and a multi-core score of 26,675. This makes it about 20% faster than the M4 Pro in multi-core performance and about 25% faster than the M2 Ultra, despite the latter having more CPU cores.
Big advances in graphics performance
In graphics testing, the M4 Pro’s 20-core GPU scored 69,867 points in Geekbench’s OpenCL benchmark, marking a 38% improvement over the M3 Pro’s score of 50,373. The M4 Max’s graphics capabilities are even more impressive, with its 40-core GPU variant achieving a Metal score of 192,532. That positions it between the previous M3 Max (154,860) and the 76-core M2 Ultra (221,646).
Encouraging market implications
These benchmark results are pretty meaningful for potential buyers. They suggest the more affordable M4 Pro machines can now deliver performance comparable to or better than the previous generation’s high-end workstations. For instance, a Mac mini with the 14-core M4 Pro, starting at $1,599, can now equal or even outperform a much more expensive Mac Studio with M2 Ultra priced at $3,999.
And while any potential buyer should use caution looking at early benchmark results like these (until they’re widely reproduced), it looks like Apple made substantial generational improvements with its M4 series chips. In fact, the results are even more impressive given that they come without massive boosts in core counts, so much of the improvement must be from better underlying architecture and efficiency.
