Apple MacBook Pro (2022) 13-Inch Model With M2 Chip Has a Slower SSD Than Predecessor: Report

Apple had unveiled the new 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022) with the M2 chip during the company's WWDC 2022 keynote. The new M2 chip powering the Apple laptop is an upgrade over its previous generation M1 chip. Now, two YouTubers have posted videos claiming that the SSD used in the M2 MacBook Pro is slower than that of the M1 MacBook Pro. At least one variant of the new laptop be seen in the videos to be reading and writing data significantly slower than its predecessor. The YouTubers also opened the back panel of the laptops to find out why.

YouTuber Max Tech has shared a video claiming that the SSD in at least one variant of the new 13-inch Apple MacBook Pro (2022) powered by the latest M2 chip has significantly lower data read and write speeds compared to the previous generation MacBook Pro with the M1 chip. The YouTuber tested the 256GB versions of both the laptops with the Blackmagicdesign Disk Speed Testm and it showed the write speed of the M2 MacBook Pro's SSD as 1,463MBps compared to the 2,215MBps write speed for the SSD of the M1 MacBook Pro. The SSD read speed for the M2 MacBook Pro laptop was 1,446MBps, while on the M1 MacBook Pro it was 2,900MBps.

Another YouTuber Created Tech shared similar results from both the laptops. After testing the Apple MacBook laptops, both the YouTubers then proceeded to find out why is the M2 MacBook Pro's SSD reading and writing speed lower than its predecessor. Both of them opened the rear panel of the laptops to compare the insides of the two. Both of them found that the 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022) with the M2 chip only had a single NAND flash storage chip. On the other hand, the previous generation model featured two NAND flash storage chips inside.

Since these NAND flash storage chips act like a highway or lane for a user's data to travel, the read and write process becomes quicker with multiple lanes. Therefore, a big reason for the drop in speed could be attributed to the lack of dual-NAND flash storage chips on the 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022) with M2 chip from Apple. The YouTubers claimed that this could be a move from the tech giant to reduce their costs.

Apple had announced the 13-inch MacBook Pro (2022) during the WWDC 2022 keynote. 

Editor's note: A previous version of this article incorrectly mentioned the M2 chip was slower than the M1 chip.