Apple recently launched its latest M4-powered MacBook Pro models, and we reported that the devices deliver superior performance over the company’s previous flagship chips, including the M2 Ultra. While the company has introduced three variants of the M3 chip, we are eagerly awaiting the M4 Ultra chip, which is expected to bring huge gains in computing and graphics performance. A YouTuber has now shared his expectations about the M4 Ultra chip and how it would perform against the RTX 4090 in both OpenCL and Vulkan.

The M4 Ultra chip is expected to surpass the RTX 4090’s performance in OpenCL and Vulkan APIs

The M4 Pro and M4 Max surprised us with their recent benchmarks, with the chips beating the flagship processors from Intel and AMD. We also discussed how the chips handle graphics, and the Metal scores show an impressive picture. The GeekBench 6 math scores for the M4 Max were reportedly 192,812, and based on the latest numbers, the M4 Ultra could blow the RTX 4090 out of the water.

Vadim Yuriev from the YouTube channel, Max Tech shared his expectations of the M4 Ultra, claiming that the chip will have a score of 330,000which is a rough estimate based on the company’s M4 Pro and M4 chips. Yuryev states that the “GPU scaling from the leaked M4 Pro score to the M4 Max chip delivers 78 percent higher performance,” assuming the company maintains a similar performance scaling.

However, Yuryev was responsible for only 70 percent of the scaling for the M4 Ultra chip and expected a small shift in scaling. The score is significantly higher than the RTX 4090 when you take into account the full 78 percent scale shift. For example, one tipster said the M4 Ultra could get as much as that 385,624and for comparison, the RTX 4090 has OpenCL scores of 317,162 and a Vulkan score of 262,907. With these numbers in hand, we can safely assume that Apple’s upcoming M4 Ultra chip will surpass the RTX 4090 in terms of graphics output.

While these are just speculations based on the company’s previous M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, there are certain factors that users should consider regarding the performance of the chips. Apple’s M4 Ultra, while capable, won’t have access to the major gaming titles on the market, which puts the chip’s performance into perspective. Moreover, the company could further change the performance ratio, which could lower the score, as we have no official information about this.

The estimates are also based on a single test, and additional in-depth comparisons with real-world performance may reveal a different picture. The M4 Ultra chip is expected to launch next year with the release of Apple’s highly anticipated Mac Pro and Mac Studio. We will share additional details on this, so stay tuned.