AMD Compares Ryzen AI Max Chip with Apple’s M4 and M4 Pro, Omitting M4 Max Which Likely Outperforms in Key Benchmarks

Today, AMD launched its latest Ryzen AI Max chip for laptops, heralding significant performance enhancements over its predecessor. In an intriguing move, AMD conducted benchmarks against Apple’s standard M4 and M4 Pro chips but notably excluded a direct comparison with the M4 Max, which was recently unveiled alongside the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models and boasts impressive computational and graphical capabilities.

Why AMD Skipped the M4 Max in Benchmark Comparisons

AMD’s decision to omit the M4 Max from its benchmark comparisons raises questions. The Ryzen AI Max is a robust 16-core chip tailored for superior graphical performance and AI processing, aimed explicitly at content creators and gamers who demand high power. Comparisons against Apple’s M4 and M4 Pro chips were meant to highlight its prowess, but why was the M4 Max sidelined?

It’s particularly interesting that AMD pitted its 16-core chip against Apple’s M4 Pro, which has only 14 cores. According to AMD, its flagship chip has an impressive 86 percent advantage in a V-Ray workload, as reported by Paul Alcorn from Tom’s Guide:

AMD also included numerous rendering benchmarks of its 16-core flagship against the 12-core Apple MacBook M4 Pro, claiming an up to 86% advantage in a V-Ray workload. Naturally, the 14-core M4 Pro, also included in the benchmarks, is more competitive, but AMD still holds a stout lead in the Blender, Corona, and V-Ray selection of benchmarks. However, the Ryzen AI Max+ isn’t as performant in the multi-threaded Cinebench 2024 test, beating the 12-core M4 Pro by a scant 2%, and trailing the 14-core M4 Pro by 3%.

One notable absence in the comparison is Apple’s high-end M4 Max chip. Given the competitive nature of these processors, one could infer that the M4 Pro may perform comparably to the Ryzen AI Max, which itself has 16 CPU cores and is designed for heavy workloads with a focus on graphics. The M4 chip features a smaller 12-core CPU and a 10-core GPU configuration, while the M4 Max stands out with its enhanced core count.

The M4 Max, equipped with up to 40 GPU cores, would likely outshine the Ryzen AI Max in key benchmarking scenarios. AMD’s chip has shown difficulty outperforming the M4 Pro, suggesting that a comparison with the higher-spec M4 Max could yield unfavorable results for AMD, likely explaining their strategic choice.

Despite AMD’s claims of superiority in certain tests, the direct performance differences in real-world applications remain to be fully observed. The Ryzen AI Max indeed marks a significant upgrade from AMD’s earlier processors, yet the fairness of the presented comparisons may be questionable—comparing two dissimilar products can lead to misleading conclusions. Additionally, Apple is set to unveil the M4 Ultra chip later this year, which is anticipated to push performance boundaries further. With 2nm fabrication technology on the horizon, Apple aims to enhance both efficiency and speed, adding another layer of competition in this rapidly evolving market.

As AMD continues to position its Ryzen AI Max as a formidable player in the laptop market, the question arises: did they adequately present the capabilities of their new chip against Apple’s offerings? Your thoughts?

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