Comparing M2 mini vs. M1 mini vs. Mac Pro

Comparison of M2 Mini vs. M1 Mini vs. Mac Pro
This article compares the performance of Apple’s M2, M1, and Mac Pro chips for building apps using Flutter and Xcode. With M2 machines being up to 33% faster than M1 machines, developers and teams must consider these differences when upgrading their CI/CD pipeline machines.
CI/CD with M1 and M2 Machines
Codemagic introduced support for M1 machines last year, reducing build times by 70% compared with Intel Mac mini machines. Comparing M2 to M1, the improvement in macOS builds is more noticeable, with M2 machines being up to 33% faster.
Comparison Setup
Two apps were tested: the default Counter app from Flutter and Sharezone, an open-source school planner. Tests were conducted on iOS and macOS platforms, in release mode, with dependency caching, using Codemagic’s virtual machines.
Results
Comparing the M2 to Mac Pro, iOS build times improved by 51% to 54%, and macOS build times by 33% with caching. When comparing M1 to M2, improvements ranged from 21% to 30% without caching. Unit and widget tests showed a 57% improvement over Mac Pro.
Overall Summary
Overall, M2 machines are faster than M1 machines, with a significant difference observed in macOS builds. Developers and teams should consider these differences when upgrading their CI/CD pipeline machines.