Can Phi-4 14B run on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

YES — Runs Great

A76Great

Estimated from fit model

Phi-4 14B needs ~26.3 GB VRAM. MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB has 92.2 GB. With Q4_K_M quantization, expect ~30 tok/s.

Runtime: llama.cppCapacity: RoomyBandwidth: LowStack: StandardBottleneck: Balanced

Operating mode

Choose the run profile you care about

Interactive favors responsiveness, while light API and scale-out lean harder on serving readiness. The fit stays the same, but the recommendation lens changes.

Current mode

Balanced

Balanced for general local use. Keeps the ranking neutral across personal and serving workflows.

Capabilities:

Select quantization to explore

Q4_K_M (Medium quality) — 26.3 GB, 30.2 tok/s, Runs well

26.3 GB required92.2 GB available

29% VRAM used

Fit status

Runs well

Decode

30.2 tok/s

TTFT

6408 ms

Safe context

16K

Memory

26.3 GB / 92.2 GB

Memory breakdown

Weights8.5 GB

KV Cache3.1 GB

Runtime0.9 GB

Headroom13.8 GB

See how fast it feels

See how fast it feelsPhi-4 14B on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB
1st promptCold start — includes initialization
>Solve: If a train travels at 60 mph for 2.5 hours, how far does it go?
Let me work through this step by step.

Given information:
  - Speed = 60 mph (miles per hour)
  - Time  = 2.5 hours

Formula: Distance = Speed x Time

Calculation:
  Distance = 60 mph x 2.5 h
           = 150 miles

The train travels 150 miles.

Double-check: at 60 mph the train covers 60 miles each hour. In half an hour it covers 30 miles. So in 2.5 hours: 60 + 60 + 30 = 150 miles. Confirmed.
2nd promptWarm — model ready, no init overhead
>What if the train stops for 20 minutes halfway?
The stop doesn't change the total distance covered while moving, but it affects total trip time.

Breakdown:
  - First half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles
  - Stop: 20 minutes (no distance)
  - Second half: 1.25 hours at 60 mph = 75 miles

Total distance: 150 miles (same)
Total time: 2.5 h + 0.33 h = 2.83 hours
Average speed: 150 / 2.83 = 53 mph

The distance stays the same but average speed drops to 53 mph because of the stop.
Estimated: 30.2 tok/s decode · 6.4s TTFT (warm) · 76 tok/s prefill

What limits this setup

This setup is broadly balanced for this model.

Shared-memory contention still exists

The OS, browser, and inference runtime all compete for the same physical memory pool, so real-world headroom is less forgiving than raw capacity suggests.

Best improvement path

Performance by workload

Workload	Grade	Fit	Decode	TTFT	Context
Chat	A	Runs well	30.2 tok/s	3495 ms	16K
Coding	A	Runs well	30.2 tok/s	6408 ms	16K
Agentic Coding	A	Runs well	30.2 tok/s	9321 ms	16K
Reasoning	A	Runs well	30.2 tok/s	7573 ms	16K
RAG	A	Runs well	30.2 tok/s	11651 ms	16K

Inference speed

Phi-4 14B inference speed — tokens per second by GPU & Mac

Estimated decode speed (tokens/sec) for Phi-4 14B at Q4_K_M across popular GPUs and Apple Silicon, using the fastest local runtime per device. Fastest is RTX 5090 32GB at ~151 tok/s. Speed is memory-bandwidth bound, so cards that fit the whole model in VRAM run far faster than ones that offload to system RAM.

GPU / Mac	Memory	Quant	Speed (tok/s)	Fits?
RTX 5090 32GB	32 GB	Q4_K_M	151.1	Fits
RTX 4090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	96.4	Fits
RX 7900 XTX 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	87.0	Fits
RTX 3090 24GB	24 GB	Q4_K_M	82.5	Fits
RTX 4080 Super 16GB	16 GB	Q4_K_M	80.7	Tight
Mac Studio M3 Ultra 256GB	256 GB	Q4_K_M	70.1	Fits
Mac Studio M2 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	58.4	Fits
Mac Studio M1 Ultra 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	55.4	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 128GB	128 GB	Q4_K_M	38.1	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	38.1	Fits
MacBook Pro M3 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	30.2	Fits
RTX 4070 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	28.4	Heavy offload
MacBook Pro M1 Max 64GB	64 GB	Q4_K_M	27.7	Fits
MacBook Pro M4 Pro 48GB	48 GB	Q4_K_M	23.3	Fits
RTX 3060 12GB	12 GB	Q4_K_M	16.7	Heavy offload
RTX 4060 8GB	8 GB	Q4_K_M	6.1	Too big

Estimates for single-stream decoding at Q4_K_M; real tokens/sec varies with prompt length, context, batch size, and runtime build. Prompt processing (prefill) is faster than the decode figures shown here.

Quantization options

How Phi-4 14B (14B params) fits at each quantization level on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB (92.2 GB usable).

Quant	Bits	VRAM	Quality	Fit
Q2_K	2	5.5 GB	Low	A71
Q3_K_S	3	6.9 GB	Low	A71
NVFP4	4	7.8 GB	Medium	A71
Q4_K_M	4	8.5 GB	Medium	A71
Q5_K_M	5	10.1 GB	High	A71
Q6_K	6	11.5 GB	High	A71
Q8_0	8	15.0 GB	Very High	A72
F16Best for your GPU	16	28.7 GB	Maximum	A74

Get started

Copy-paste commands to run Phi-4 14B on your machine.

Run

ollama run phi4

Your hardware

More models your MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can run

Model	Params	Grade	Decode
Devstral 2 123B Instruct	123B	S	3.3 tok/s
Qwen3-Coder 30B A3B Instruct	30.5B	S	36.3 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 27B	27B	S	15.7 tok/s
Qwen 3.6 27B	27B	S	12 tok/s
Qwen 3.5 122B A10B	122B	S	15 tok/s

Frequently asked questions

Can MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB run Phi-4 14B?

Yes, MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can run Phi-4 14B with a A grade (Runs well). Expected decode speed: 30.2 tok/s.

How much VRAM does Phi-4 14B need?

Phi-4 14B (14B parameters) requires approximately 26.3 GB of memory with Q4_K_M quantization.

What is the best quantization for Phi-4 14B?

The recommended quantization for Phi-4 14B is Q4_K_M, which balances quality and memory efficiency.

What speed will Phi-4 14B run at on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB, Phi-4 14B achieves approximately 30.2 tokens per second decode speed with a time-to-first-token of 6408ms using Q4_K_M quantization.

Can MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB run Phi-4 14B for coding?

For coding workloads, Phi-4 14B on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB receives a A grade with 30.2 tok/s and 16K context.

What context window can Phi-4 14B use on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB?

On MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB, Phi-4 14B can safely use up to 16K tokens of context. The model's official context limit is 16K, but available memory constrains the safe maximum.

Is unified memory on MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB as fast as VRAM for Phi-4 14B?

Not always. MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB can often fit larger models thanks to unified memory, but a discrete GPU with dedicated high-bandwidth VRAM may still decode faster once the model fits. For this combination, the important distinction is capacity versus sustained throughput.

See all results for MacBook Pro M3 Max 128GB See all hardware for Phi-4 14B

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