The Apple Vision Pro’s M2 has 16GB of unified memory

Macworld

The Apple Vision Pro spatial computing headset uses an Apple M2 System on a Chip, but the company hasn’t disclosed as part of its marketing how much unified memory the chip has. Apparently, it’s 16GB, according to a report by MacRumors.

The amount was confirmed by examining Vision Pro-related files in Xcode 15.2. That’s the same amount that has been used in Vision Pro development kits, and was reported by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman before WWDC last year.

Apple’s chips use one memory set for both CPU and GPU operations, and the chip is capable of managing how memory is allocated to get the best performance. Apple’s M2 is the base chip for the M2 series and has a base configuration of 8GB of unified memory, with configurations of 16GB and 24GB available. Apple has not announced if the Vision Pro can be outfitted with 24GB of memory.

As for storage, Apple states that $3,499 is the starting price for the Vision Pro that has a 256GB SSD. That implies that Apple will offer higher storage capacities, but the upgrade increments and prices have not been announced. Vision Pro development kits were reported to have 1TB of storage.

Apple has released the M3 chip, which is faster than the M2, but Apple has not commented on why it did not use the M3 in the Vision Pro. The M3 didn’t become available until late 2023 and was produced in limited quantities, while Vision Pro developer kits started to ship in July 2023, so it’s likely that the timing just wasn’t right.

Pre-orders for the Vision Pro start on January 19 at 5 a.m. Pacific in the U.S. The headset will then become available in Apple Stores in the U.S. on February 2. The starting price is $3,499, and optical “reader” or prescription lens inserts cost $99 and $149 respectively. Apple has not posted technical specifications on its website, but that could change on January 19.

For more information, check out our Apple Vision Pro superguide.

Virtual Reality, Wearables