A leak has left us a lot of information about the Apple M3, M3 Pro and M3 Maxthree new SoCs that the apple company will launch between the end of this year and mid-2024, although we still do not have a definitive date confirmed, so this information could change to a greater or lesser extent.
The Apple M3 SoC will be the base model within this new generation, and as it already happened with the Apple M2 it will be aimed at ultra light devices where the most important thing is mobility and autonomy, which includes both the MacBook Air and the iPad Pro. This will have a more modest configuration to maintain more contained consumption and temperatures, and it is said that in general terms it will maintain the same base configuration as the M2 chip.
If the above is true, the Apple M3 SoC will have a configuration of 8 cores at the CPU leveldivided into four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, and would have a GPU of up to 10 graphics cores. The maximum amount of unified memory that this chip would have would be 24 GB, a figure that will be more than enough for the computers to which it is directed.
There will therefore be no increase in the number of cores, so all the performance improvements offered by the Apple M3 SoC will come given by an increase in the CPI and by changes at the architecture levelas well as possible increases in working frequencies.
As for the M3 Pro, it is said that it will have a Twelve-core CPU divided into 8 high-performance cores and 4 high-efficiency cores, as well as a GPU with up to 18 cores. Some sources say that the M3 Pro could be used in a new larger iPad Pro, but it’s a rumor so we have to take it with a grain of salt.
Finally we have the M3 Max, which will be the most powerful of this family and will come with a 14-core CPU divided into two blocks, one with high performance and the other with high efficiency. We don’t know how Apple might divvy up that configuration, but it will most likely be divided into 10 high-power cores and 4 low-power cores. Your GPU will have up to 40 graphics cores.
This chip will be used in various computers, such as the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, for example, and could serve as the basis for the creation of a Apple M3 Ultra SoCwhich would combine two M3 Max chips to form an MCM design with a 28-core CPU and up to 80-core GPU. This would be used in the Mac Pro. All these SoCs will use the 3nm node.
