The 16-core Neural Engine in the schematic of the Apple M1.
Apple's Neural Engine (ANE) is the marketing name for a group of specialized cores functioning as a neural processing unit (NPU) dedicated to the acceleration of artificial intelligence operations and machine learning tasks.[1] They are part of system-on-a-chip (SoC) designs specified by Apple and fabricated by TSMC.[2]
History[]
Icon of the Core ML API
The first Neural Engine was introduced in September 2017 as part of the Apple A11 "Bionic" chip. It consisted of two cores that could perform up to 600 billion operations per second for real-time processing of machine learning algorithms dedicated to features such as Animoji and Face ID. However, an API was not yet available for 3rd-party developers. A framework named Core ML was released to allow developers to integrate machine learning into their applications, which could be accelerated by available GPU or Neural Engine hardware. The Neural Engine in the Apple A12 (also called "Bionic") was expanded to eight cores that could process up to 5 trillion operations per second, which was up to nine times faster while using one-tenth of the power of the version in the A11. The 8-core Neural Engine within the Apple A13 that was released in September 2019 was 20% faster while using 15% less power.[3][4]
The Apple A14 was released in October 2020 with the number of Neural Engine cores doubled to 16, providing the ability to perform up to 11 trillion operations per second.[5] The Apple M1 was released in November 2020 with improved overall performance and power efficiency, but a Neural Engine that was largely unchanged from the A14.[6] The Apple A15 was announced in September 2021 with 16 Neural Engine cores like earlier models, but with the ability to perform up to 15.8 trillion operations per second.[7] However, Neural Engine performance in the Apple M1 Pro and Max, introduced in the following month, was unchanged from the lower performance of the original M1.[8] The Apple M1 Ultra was introduced in March 2022 which used a previously unrevealed interconnect called UltraFusion to effectively double the number of cores and performance over that of the M1 Max.[9]
In June 2022, Apple introduced the Apple M2 with 16 Neural Engine cores that could deliver over 40% faster performance than the Apple M1 with the same number of cores, in line with that of the Apple A15.[10] In September 2022, Apple introduced the Apple A16 with 16 Neural Engine cores on a new 4 nm process that could handle nearly 17 trillion operations per second.[11] The Apple M2 Ultra was introduced in June 2023, using UltraFusion to double the number of cores and performance over that of preceding M2 Max chips.[12]
In September 2023, Apple introduced the Apple A17 Pro with 16 Neural Engine cores on a new 3 nm process that could handle 35 trillion operations per second.[13] The Apple S9 was also introduced with 4 cores to support new watchOS features.[14] In late October 2023, the Apple M3 was introduced on the same process, but with 16 cores that could handle 18 trillion operations per second.[15] The Apple M3 Ultra was introduced in March 2025, using UltraFusion to double the number of cores and performance over that of preceding M3 Max chips.[16]
In May 2024, the Apple M4 was introduced on a 2nd-generation 3 nm process, increasing performance of its 16 Neural Engine cores up to 38 trillion operations per second.[17] The Apple A18 and 18 Pro were introduced on the same improved 3 nm process in September 2024. Though the A18 Pro has the same number of Neural Engine cores that can run up to 35 million operations per second like the A17 Pro, optimizations allow it to run Apple Intelligence features up to 15% faster.[18] The Apple S10 was also released in September, with 4 Neural Engine cores for the Apple Watch Series 10, though performance was found to be largely unchanged from the S9.[19]
Neural Engine version history[]
| SoC | Introduced | Process | Neural cores | Peak ops/sec. | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apple A11 | Sep. 2017 | 10 nm | 2 | 600 billion | First implementation. |
| Apple A12 | Sep. 2018 | 7 nm | 8 | 5 trillion | 90% lower power consumption. |
| Apple A13 | Sep. 2019 | 7 nm* | 8 | 6 trillion | 15% lower power. Enhanced 7 nm (N7P). |
| Apple A14 | Oct. 2020 | 5 nm | 16 | 11 trillion | First 5 nm process (N5). |
| Apple M1 | Nov. 2020 | 5 nm | 16 | 11 trillion | Comparable to Apple A14 |
| Apple A15 | Sep. 2021 | 5 nm* | 16 | 15.8 trillion | Enhanced 5 nm process (N5P). |
| Apple M1 Pro Apple M1 Max |
Oct. 2021 | 5 nm | 16 | 11 trillion | Same as original Apple M1. |
| Apple M1 Ultra | Mar. 2022 | 5 nm | 32 | 22 trillion | 2x Apple M1 Max. |
| Apple M2 | Jun. 2022 | 5 nm* | 16 | 15.8 trillion | Comparable to Apple A15. |
| Apple A16 | Sep. 2022 | 4 nm | 16 | 17 trillion | Improved power efficiency. |
| Apple M2 Pro Apple M2 Max |
Jan. 2023 | 5 nm* | 16 | 15.8 trillion | Same as original Apple M2. |
| Apple M2 Ultra | Jun. 2023 | 5 nm* | 32 | 31.6 trillion | 2x Apple M2 Max. |
| Apple A17 Pro | Sep. 2023 | 3 nm | 16 | 35 trillion | First 3 nm process (N3B). |
| Apple S9 | Sep. 2023 | 4 nm | 4 | Derived from Apple A16. | |
| Apple M3 | Oct. 2023 | 3 nm | 16 | 18 trillion | Derived from Apple A17 Pro. |
| Apple M3 Pro Apple M3 Max |
Nov. 2023 | 3 nm | 16 | 18 trillion | Same as original Apple M3. |
| Apple M4 | May 2024 | 3 nm* | 16 | 38 trillion | Enhanced 3 nm process (N3E). |
| Apple A18 | Sep. 2024 | 3 nm* | 16 | 35 trillion | Optimized for Apple Intelligence. |
| Apple A18 Pro | Apple Intelligence 15% faster than A17 Pro | ||||
| Apple S10 | Sep. 2024 | 4 nm | 4 | Comparable to Apple S9 | |
| Apple M4 Pro Apple M4 Max |
Nov. 2024 | 3 nm* | 16 | 38 trillion | Same as original Apple M4. |
| Apple M3 Ultra | Mar. 2025 | 3 nm | 32 | 36 trillion | 2x Apple M3 Max. |
References[]
- ↑ Apple’s ‘Neural Engine’ Infuses the iPhone With AI Smarts by Tom Simonite, Wired. 2017-09-13.
- ↑ Apple's new iPhones use Souped Up 7nm Processors from TSMC to Overpower Rivals by Jack Purcher, Patently Apple. 2018-09-13.
- ↑ Build more intelligent apps with machine learning., Apple Developer. Archived 2017-06-06.
- ↑ Apple says its new A13 Bionic chip brings hours of extra battery life to new iPhones by Sean Hollister, The Verge. 2019-09-10.
- ↑ All-new iPad Air with advanced A14 Bionic chip available to order starting today, Apple Inc. 2020-10-16.
- ↑ Apple unleashes M1, Apple Inc. 2020-11-10.
- ↑ Apple Event — September 14 by Apple, YouTube. 2021-09-14.
- ↑ Apple Pushes Out Intel With In-House M1 Pro Chip for High-End Laptops by James Morra, Electronic Design. 2021-10-19.
- ↑ Apple unveils M1 Ultra, the world’s most powerful chip for a personal computer, Apple Inc. 2022-03-08.
- ↑ Apple unveils M2, taking the breakthrough performance and capabilities of M1 even further, Apple Inc. 2022-06-06.
- ↑ Apple Event — September 7 by Apple, YouTube. 2022-09-07.
- ↑ Apple introduces M2 Ultra, Apple Inc. 2023-06-05.
- ↑ A17 Pro: The New Chip Brain in the iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max by Stephen Shankland and Joshua Goldman, CNET. 2023-09-12.
- ↑ Apple Watch 9 Gets S9 Chip! by Youssef Mohamed, Medium. 2023-08-25.
- ↑ Apple’s new M3 Pro might come with an unexpected downgrade by Alex Blake, Digital Trends. 2023-10-31.
- ↑ Apple reveals M3 Ultra, taking Apple silicon to a new extreme, Apple Inc. 2025-03-05.
- ↑ Apple introduces M4 chip, Apple Inc. 2024-05-07.
- ↑ Apple Event - September 9, by Apple, YouTube. 2024-08-26.
- ↑ Apple Watch S10 vs S9 : Speed + Music + Health by Mity, MacRumors Forums. 2024-09-22.
See also[]
- Apple Intelligence, an AI platform developed by Apple in partnership with OpenAI.
- Velocity Engine, older vector processing technology used in the PowerPC G4 and G5.
External links[]
- Deploying Transformers on the Apple Neural Engine at Apple Machine Learning (2022-06)
- The Neural Engine — what do we know about it? by Matthijs Hollemans at GitHub
- What is Apple’s neural engine? at Quora
- Neural processor at Wikichip
- Neural Engine at Wikipedia
Articles[]
- The iPhone X’s new neural engine exemplifies Apple’s approach to AI by James Vincent at The Verge (2017-09-13)
- Here’s why Apple believes it’s an AI leader—and why it says critics have it all wrong by Samuel Azon at Ars Technica (2020-08-06)
- Apple Reveals a Multi-Mode Planar Engine for a Neural Processor that could be used in A-Series & screamingly fast M1 Processors by Jack Purcher at Patently Apple (2021-04-08)
