Leica SL2-S has a
24.0MP Full frame (36 x 24 mm ) sized BSI-CMOS sensor and features Maestro III processor. On the other hand, Leica M8 has a
10.0MP APS-H (27 x 18 mm ) sized CCD sensor .
Leica SL2-S's sensor provides 14MP more than Leica M8's sensor, which gives a significant advantage in real life. You can print your images larger or crop more freely.
On the other hand, please keep in mind that Max sensor resolution is not the only determinant of resolving power. Factors such as the optical elements, low pass filter, pixel size and sensor technology also affects the final resolution of the captured image.
Another similarity between these two cameras is that both Leica M8 and Leica SL2-S sensors lack anti-alias (Low-Pass) filters. Removing anti-alias filter increases the sharpness and level of detail but at the same time, it increases the chance of moiré occurring in certain scenes.
Below you can see the SL2-S and M8 sensor size comparison.
As seen above, Leica SL2-S has a 1.8x Larger sensor area than Leica M8. Larger sensors give photographer more control on the depth of field and blurry background compared to smaller sensor when shot in same focal length and aperture.