Apple M1 Ultra in 2026: Performance Four Years Later

The Apple M1 Ultra launched in March 2022 alongside the first Mac Studio. The chip combines two M1 Max dies and features a 20-core CPU, up to 64 GPU cores, 800 GB/s of memory bandwidth, and up to 128 GB of unified memory. In 2026, its single-threaded performance is already noticeably behind newer generations of Apple Silicon, but it still handles rendering, video editing, compilation, and other multithreaded workloads quickly.

Two M1 Max Chips in One

The M1 Ultra is manufactured using a 5 nm process and contains 114 billion transistors. Its CPU consists of 16 performance cores and four efficiency cores.

Apple connected two M1 Max dies using UltraFusion. The interconnect provides 2.5 TB/s of bandwidth, while macOS treats the two dies as a single chip.

The M1 Ultra supports 64 or 128 GB of unified memory with up to 800 GB/s of bandwidth. The M1 Max has a maximum bandwidth of 400 GB/s.

64 GB is enough for developing large projects, video editing, and most 3D scenes. 128 GB is needed for complex 3D scenes, multiple virtual machines, and demanding video projects.

M1 Ultra Performance

The M1 Ultra scores around 2400 points in Geekbench 6 Single-Core and 18,500 in Multi-Core. In Cinebench R23, its results are approximately 1534 and 24,200 points, while PassMark CPU gives it around 41,400 points.

Single-core performance is close to that of the M1 Max because both chips use the same CPU architecture. In multithreaded tests, the M1 Ultra is approximately 40% faster than the M1 Max in Geekbench 6 Multi-Core, nearly twice as fast in Cinebench R23, and approximately 87% faster in PassMark Multi-Core.

48- or 64-Core GPU

The M1 Ultra was available with 48- and 64-core GPUs. In 3DMark Steel Nomad, the 48-core version scores around 2560 points, while the 64-core version scores around 3150.

In this test, the 64-core version is approximately 23% faster.

The M1 Ultra does not support hardware-accelerated ray tracing. It was introduced in Apple Silicon starting with the M3.

Media Engine

The M1 Ultra features hardware acceleration for H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW. The chip includes two video decoding blocks, four encoding blocks, and four ProRes encoding and decoding blocks.

In terms of the number of media blocks, the M1 Ultra has twice as many as the M1 Max, which is particularly important when working with multiple ProRes streams.

Mac Studio with M1 Ultra

The M1 Ultra was used in the 2022-generation Mac Studio. The base configuration came with a 48-core GPU, 64 GB of memory, and a 1 TB SSD.

The higher-end version was offered with a 64-core GPU and up to 128 GB of unified memory. The SSD could be upgraded to 8 TB.

The M1 Ultra was not used in laptops.

Is It Worth Buying a Mac Studio with M1 Ultra in 2026?

A Mac Studio with an M1 Ultra, a 48-core GPU, 64 GB of memory, and a 1 TB SSD can be found for approximately $1400-1800, depending on its condition.

Versions with a 64-core GPU and 128 GB of memory cost around $2000. The 128 GB version is primarily needed for workloads that genuinely require that amount of memory.

At a price of around $1800-2000, the base M1 Ultra should already be compared directly with a newer Mac Studio. If 64 or 128 GB of memory is not necessary, the newer generation will provide a faster CPU and more modern graphics.