End partnership with Intel and design their own ARM-based chips could have been one of Apple’s best decisions. More Intel Core processors in the MacBook Pro and Air led to the creation of the Apple M1 processor, which proved ridiculously efficient and fast.
The successor, Apple M2, brought even crazier gains over the previous generation, sometimes delivering performance comparable to desktop processors like Intel’s 12th Gen.
Next on Apple’s schedule is the M3 ARM processor. Hopefully these new chips will be just as impressive as previous generations.
Even though we are still a long way from launch day, in this article we will cover everything related to release date, specs, price, and performance.
Let’s see what Apple is planning!
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Release date
Although Apple hasn’t said a word regarding the M3 devices, rumors point to a late 2023 release date.
We can’t really say for sure, but given the 18-month gap between Apple M1 (October 2020) and M2 (June 2022), it is very likely that Apple will release its first M3 devices in Q4 of 2023.
In the initial announcement, we expect that 13 inches Macbook Air M3 and MacBook Pro M3.
Later, we may see the following devices:
- iPad Pro M3
- Mac mini M3
- MacBook Pro M3 Max/Pro 14 inch/16 inch
Features
Leaks surrounding Apple silicon or anything related to their devices are often rare. However, we do know that Apple’s third generation M chips will use TSMC chips 3nm process node.
TSMC’s N3 technology could lead to a 15% improvement in CPIt on the Apple M2 and a 30% improvement in energy efficiency.
Keep in mind that Apple managed to achieve substantial performance gains with M2 over M1, even though both were on the 5nm process node, so M3 could bring even more significant improvements compared to previous generations.
Based on @LeaksAppleProthe M3 processor could come in two different combinations.
- 8-core processor for the MacBook Air
- 10-core processor for the MacBook Pro
Although it’s worth noting that M2 and M1 only had one 8-core variant, while the higher core count SKUs were the Pro and Max.
| Apple M3 | Apple M2 | Apple M1 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Process node | N3 (TSMC 3nm) | N5P (2nd generation 5nm) | 5nm |
| CPU cores | 8/10 | 8 | 8 |
| GPU cores | ten | 8/10 | 7/8 |
| neural engine | ? | 15.8 TOPS | 11 TOPS |
| Memory | LPDDR5 | LPDDR5 | LPDDR4X |
| unified memory | up to 32 GB? | up to 24 GB | up to 16 GB |
| Memory bandwidth | ? | 100 Gbps | 68 GB/s |
| PDT | 20-24W? | 20-24W | 20-24W |
| Release date | Q4 2023 | June 2022 | November 2020 |
Price
Some Apple M2 devices have seen price increases. For example, the MacBook Air M2 had an MSRP $200 higher than the MacBook Air M1. On the other hand, the MacBook Pro M2 got the same starting price as the M1.
Unfortunately, we are likely to see even higher prices for M3 devices as the move from 5NP to N3 FinFlex will be expensive. Why?
Well, a TSMC 3nm slice will cost $20,000, $4,000 more than TSMC’s 5nm wafer, as DigiTimes implies.
Based on that, here are our price predictions for the M3 devices:
- iPad Pro M2 – from $899
- 13-inch MacBook Air M3 – from $1,299
- 13-inch MacBook Pro M3 – from $1,399
- 14-inch MacBook Pro M3 Pro/Max – $3,099
- 16-inch MacBook Pro M3 Max – $2,599
Our estimate is $100 more for each price tag, but higher prices are possible! Remember that these are only rough estimates based on the cost of previous generation devices.
Landmarks
Apple still hasn’t released any information regarding the performance of the M3 processor, so we don’t have any benchmarks to share yet.
But we will update this article accordingly when information regarding the price, specifications and performance of these next-gen processors is released!