Apple to Power AI Features With M2 Ultra Servers

Apple plans to power some of its upcoming iOS 18 features with data centers that use servers equipped with Apple silicon chips, reports Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

iCloud General Feature
M2 Ultra chips will be behind some of the most advanced AI tasks that are planned for this year and beyond. Apple reportedly accelerated its server building plans in response to the popularity of ChatGPT and other AI products, and future servers could use next-generation M4 chips.

While some tasks will be done on-device, more intensive tasks like generating images and summarizing articles will require cloud connectivity. A more powerful version of Siri would also need cloud-based servers. Privacy has long been a concern of Apple’s, but the team working on servers says that Apple chips will inherently protect user privacy.

Gurman previously claimed that all of the coming ‌iOS 18‌ features would run on-device, but it sounds like some capabilities coming this year will in fact use cloud servers. Apple plans to use its own servers for now, but in the future, it may also rely on servers from other companies.

Popular Stories

Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Leak Reveals All-New Design

Friday January 17, 2025 2:42 pm PST by
iOS 19 is still around six months away from being announced, but a new leak has allegedly revealed a completely redesigned Camera app. Based on footage it obtained, YouTube channel Front Page Tech shared a video showing what the new Camera app will apparently look like, with the key change being translucent menus for camera controls. Overall, the design of these menus looks similar to...
2024 iPhone Boxes Feature

Apple Changes Trade-In Values for iPhones, iPads, Macs, and More

Thursday January 16, 2025 6:45 am PST by
Apple today adjusted estimated trade-in values for select iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch models in the U.S., according to its website. Some values increased, while others decreased. The changes were not too significant, with most values rising or dropping by $5 to $50. We have outlined some examples below: Device New Value Old Value iPhone 15 Pro Max Up to $630 U ...
2024 App Store Awards

Apple Explains Why It Removed TikTok From the App Store in the U.S.

Sunday January 19, 2025 6:58 am PST by
Apple on late Saturday removed TikTok from the App Store in the U.S., and it has now explained why it was required to take this action. Last year, the U.S. passed a law that required Chinese company ByteDance to divest its ownership of TikTok due to potential national security risks, or else the platform would be banned. That law went into effect today, and companies like Apple and Google...
Generic iOS 18

Everything New in iOS 18.3 Beta 3

Thursday January 16, 2025 12:39 pm PST by
Apple provided the third beta of iOS 18.3 to developers today, and while the betas have so far been light on new features, the third beta makes some major changes to Notification Summaries and also tweaks a few other features. Notification Summary Changes Apple made multiple changes to Notification Summaries in response to complaints about inaccurate summaries of news headlines. For...
iOS 19 Roundup Feature

iOS 19 Rumored to Be Compatible With These iPhones

Saturday January 18, 2025 10:28 am PST by
iOS 19 will not drop support for any iPhone models, according to French website iPhoneSoft.fr. The report cited a source who said iOS 19 will be compatible with any iPhone that can run iOS 18, which would mean the following models: iPhone 16 iPhone 16 Plus iPhone 16 Pro iPhone 16 Pro Max iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Plus iPhone 15 Pro iPhone 15 Pro Max iPhone 14 iPhon...
iPad Pro vs iPhone 17 Air Feature

Here's How Thin the iPhone 17 Air Might Be

Friday January 17, 2025 3:38 pm PST by
For the last several months, we've been hearing rumors about a redesigned version of the iPhone 17 that Apple might call the iPhone 17 "Air," or something along those lines. It's going to replace the iPhone 17 Plus as Apple's fourth iPhone option, and it will be offered alongside the iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max. We know the iPhone 17 Air is going to be super slim, but...
airtag 4 pack blue

AirTag 2 Launching This Year With These 3 New Features

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:11 am PST by
After a four-year wait, a new AirTag is finally expected to launch in 2025. Below, we recap rumored upgrades for the accessory. A few months ago, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple was aiming to release the AirTag 2 around the middle of 2025. While he did not offer a more specific timeframe, that means the AirTag 2 could be announced by the end of June. The original AirTag was announced...
apple power beats pro 2

Powerbeats Pro 2 Coming Soon: Apple to Announce Them 'Imminently'

Sunday January 19, 2025 8:25 am PST by
In September, Apple said that it would be launching Powerbeats Pro 2 in 2025, and it appears the wireless earbuds are coming very soon. Powerbeats Pro 2 images found in iOS 18 code In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said the Powerbeats Pro 2 are "due imminently." In addition to Apple filing the Powerbeats Pro 2 in regulatory databases last month, Gurman said Apple is...

Top Rated Comments

brett_x Avatar
9 months ago
If only they had a server operating system of their own....
(says a former OS X Server sys admin)
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
andrewxgx Avatar
9 months ago

Maybe just use Nvidia GPU's that are like 50 times faster and are actually built for this type of workloads ?
why pay nvidia 80% margin if you can use your own hardware?

you are also missing the obvious: the M2 Ultra is a niche product, and bigger chips (the so-called M1/M2 Extreme) were cancelled because of that.
now Apple has an incentive to built those as not only they can sell it in Mac Pro/Studio, they can run their own servers on it with massive cost saving compared to what AMD and Nvidia offers.

big chips were given green light if this rumor is true
Score: 32 Votes (Like | Disagree)
HobeSoundDarryl Avatar
9 months ago
"Introducing our magical, incredible iCloud AI Pro Max... starting at only $69/month.

We think you'll love it!" ;)
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BC2009 Avatar
9 months ago
I don't see how any chip could "inherently protect user privacy" -- that is just nonsense. Privacy is primarily a function of the software running on the chip. While there may be features of a chip that could help protect privacy in a multi-tenant environment (like a cloud server), that would be at a very low level such as protecting memory from being read across processes or threads.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DelayedGratificationGene Avatar
9 months ago

Maybe just use Nvidia GPU's that are like 50 times faster and are actually built for this type of workloads ?
And also need the power of the Hoover Dam to complete the workload. No thanks! Apple is way more efficient then Nvidia
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jz0309 Avatar
9 months ago
I just hope they will have something useful to offer for the average consumer who is not on the "AI hype for hype sake"
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)