Home > GPU Comparison > M2 Max GPU (38-core) vs A18 Pro GPU – what's better?

Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) vs A18 Pro GPU

Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
VS
Apple A18 Pro GPU
Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
Apple A18 Pro GPU
Custom

We compared two integrated laptop graphics cards: the Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) with 608 pipelines and 4864 shaders against the 1 year and 8 months newer A18 Pro GPU that utilizes 128 pipelines and 768 shaders. Here you will find complete details about specs, efficiency, performance tests, and more.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Benchmarks
  4. AI
  5. Specs
  6. Comments

Review

General comparison of performance in games, applications, power efficiency, and other metrics
Gaming
Performance in DirectX, OpenCL, and Vulkan games
Workstation
Perf. in 3D modeling, video editing and rendering apps
AI/ML
Capabilities for machine learning and AI-related tasks
Energy Efficiency
Power consumption efficiency in different scenarios
DeviceFacts Final Score
Overall video card score

Key differences

Key distinctions and advantages of A18 Pro GPU over M2 Max GPU (38-core)
Reasons to consider the Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
  • Performs significantly better (up to 5.2x) in 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite
  • 5.9x higher maximum theoretical performance (13.6 vs 2.3 TFLOPS)
  • Has 6.3x more shading units (4864 vs 768)
  • Achieves 2.8x more points in the GeekBench 6 Compute test (86K vs 31K)
Reasons to consider the Apple A18 Pro GPU
  • Manufactured using a more efficient 3 nm process technology
GPU
M2 Max GPU (38-core)
vs
A18 Pro GPU

Benchmarks

Graphics cards’ performance in recent benchmarking apps

3D Mark

Multiplatform graphics benchmark suite that directly correlates with performance in modern games
Steel Nomad Lite Score
Solar Bay 30368 7365
Wild Life Extreme 24948 3949
Sources: 3DMark [1], [2]

GeekBench 6 GPU Compute

GPU test for computational tasks (image processing, photography, computer vision, and ML)
GB6 Compute Score
M2 Max GPU (38-core) +178%
86936
A18 Pro GPU
31229
Background Blur 149 img/sec 57.1 img/sec
Face Detection 98.1 img/sec 91.4 img/sec
Horizon Detection 3.8 Gpixels/sec 0.92 Gpixels/sec
Edge Detection 6.88 Gpixels/sec 1.21 Gpixels/sec
Gaussian Blur 4.44 Gpixels/sec 1.5 Gpixels/sec
Feature Matching 0.73 Gpixels/sec 0.45 Gpixels/sec
Stereo Matching 264.9 Gpixels/sec 84.2 Gpixels/sec
Particle Physics 11144.2 FPS 3061 FPS
API OpenCL Metal
Sources: Geekbench [3], [4]

Cinebench 2024 GPU

Hardware benchmark using Maxon's Cinema 4D rendering engine
Cinebench 2024 GPU

Blender

Rendering performance test for 3D modeling
Blender GPU
Sources: Blender [9] – 301 samples
Add your GPU benchmark result

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core)
No benchmark results yet
Add
Apple A18 Pro GPU
DateBenchmarkResult
📘 2026-10-03 -> RennsportGeekbench 7 OpenCL18863
📘 2026-04-24 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 OpenCL19670
Add View all (2)

Artificial Intelligence Tests

Performance in machine learning and artificial intelligence tasks

GeekBench 6 ML

Tests throughput of AI operations in single, half, and quantized precision
GB6 ML Single Precision
GB6 ML Half Precision
GB6 ML Quantized
Image Classification (SP) 6657 3264
Image Segmentation (HP) 13854 4550
Image Super Resolution (Q) 18642 6705
Face Detection (HP) 27965 11770
Pose Estimation (Q) 83144 15548
Text Classification (SP) 2377 3678
Machine Translation (HP) 2052 5678
Object Detection (SP) 6495 3360
Depth Estimation (Q) 31105 13468
Style Transfer (SP) 135686 31541
Framework Core ML Core ML
Backend GPU GPU
Sources: Geekbench [9], [10]

Specifications

Technical specifications of Apple M2 Max GPU (38-core) and A18 Pro GPU

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Build Integrated Integrated
Released January 17, 2023 September 9, 2024
Case Laptop Laptop
Purpose Professional Generic
Segment High-end Mid-range
Architecture Apple M GPU Apple M GPU
GPU Codename - Custom
Rival Equivalent - GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop -
Successor - Apple M5 Max GPU (40-core) -
Recommended CPU - - Apple A18 Pro (MacBook) or above
Used in CPUs - Apple M2 Max - Apple A18 Pro (MacBook)
Laptop GPU ranking (42nd and 83rd place)

Graphics Processing Unit

Base Clock 450 MHz -
Boost Clock 1398 MHz 1490 MHz
Shading Units 4864 768
Texture Mapping Units (TMUs) 304 40
Render Output Units (ROPs) 152 -
Compute Units (Pipelines) 608 128
Instructions Per Cycle 2 IPC 2 IPC

Raw Performance

Pixel Fill Rate 212 GPixel/s -
Texture Fill Rate 425 GTexel/s 60 GTexel/s
FLOPS (FP32)
M2 Max GPU (38-core) +491%
13.6 TFLOPS
A18 Pro GPU
2.3 TFLOPS

Physical

Interface Custom Custom
TGP 70 W -
Manufacturing TSMC TSMC
Fabrication Process 5 nm 3 nm
Transistor Count 52 billion -
Max. Temperature 94°C -

Memory

Memory Type System Shared System Shared
Memory Clock 6400 MHz 7500 MHz
Effective Memory Speed 12800 Mbps -
Bus 512-bit 128-bit
ECC No No
Memory Bandwidth

API

Ray Tracing No Yes
DLSS No No

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