Apple announces M3 series of processors for next-generation Macs

The new M3 processors are both faster and power efficient when compared to their predecessors.

M3 series of processors (Image credit: Apple)

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Apple on Tuesday unveiled three new next-generation Apple Silicon processors at its “Scary Fast” launch event. Fabbed by TSMC using a 3nm process, the new M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips power the new 14-inch MacBook Pro and claim to offer enhanced CPU and GPU performance.

The new M3 chip now offers an 8-core CPU, and 10-core GPU along with support for up to 24 GB unified memory. Similarly, the M3 Pro offers up to 12-core CPU, and 18-core GPU with support for up to 36 GB of unified memory. Lastly, the M3 Max offers up to 16-core CPU, and 40-core GPU with up to a whopping 128 GB of unified memory with support for dynamic caching for enhanced GPU utilisation.

Also read | Apple’s ‘Scary Fast’ live updates: The latest M3-powered Macs are here

Specifications of M3 series of processors (Image credit: Apple)

All three chips feature more power-efficient CPU and GPU cores and the new M3 Max has a whopping 92 billion transistors, making it one of the densest Arm chips in the market. These new processors also include an upgraded 16-core Neural Engine for enhanced AI capabilities. Besides, just like the A17 Pro, the M3 family of chips also support hardware-accelerated ray-tracing.

The M3 processors offer 15 per cent faster high-performance cores and 30 per cent faster efficient cores when compared to the M2 chips. Similarly, they also feature faster graphics, based on next-generation architecture.

The 14-inch MacBook Pro will be available with M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max configurations. Similarly, the 16-inch variant will be available with either M3 Pro or M3 Max and the new iMac will make use of the M3 chip.