Apple unveils new M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max processors

DIMAPUR — American tech giant, Apple, on Monday, unveiled its new lineup of M3 processors that will power the company’s upcoming Macbooks. The lineup consists of M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max processors that were built using the 3nm process technology.

One of the biggest improvements with the M3 lineup is the GPU architecture. Apple says that the M3 features a breakthrough technology called Dynamic Caching in which the GPU allocates the use of local memory in hardware in real-time so as to ensure only the exact amount of memory needed is used for each task. This will dramatically increase GPU utilisation and performance for the most demanding pro apps and games, the company claimed.

“Apple silicon has completely redefined the Mac experience. Every aspect of its architecture is designed for performance and power efficiency,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies in a blog post. “With 3-nanometer technology, a next-generation GPU architecture, a higher-performance CPU, faster Neural Engine, and support for even more unified memory, M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max are the most advanced chips ever built for a personal computer.”

For the first time, the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chipsets will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing that will enable game developers to create more accurate shadows and reflections, creating deeply immersive environments. Additionally, the M3 lineup also brings hardware-accelerated mesh shading to the Mac, delivering greater capability and efficiency to geometry processing, and enabling more visually complex scenes in games and graphics-intensive apps.

The M3 chipsets also feature an enhanced Neural Engine that is up to 60 per cent faster than in the M1, the company claimed. All three chips in the M3 family have support for popular video codecs including H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, and AV1 decoding.

The M3 chip features 25 billion transistors, a 10-core GPU that is 65 per cent faster than the M1 for graphics, and an 8-core CPU that is 35 per cent faster than the M1 for CPU performance. It supports up to 24GB of unified memory.

The M3 Pro has 37 billion transistors with an 18-core GPU, which is 40 per cent faster than the M1 Pro and supports up to 36GB of unified memory. Its 12-core CPU is up to 30 per cent faster than the M1 Pro.

The M3 Max has 92 billion transistors, a 40-core GPU that is 50 per cent faster than the M1 Max and supports up to 128GB of unified memory. Its 16-core CPU is up to 80 per cent faster than the M1 Max, making it ideal for AI development with large transformer models.

According to Apple, the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips enhance energy efficiency in the new MacBook Pro and iMac, delivering the longest Mac battery life ever – up to 22 hours. This means less plugging in and reduced energy consumption over time, the company said.

The M3 chip will power the iMac and 14″ MacBook Pro, both available from November 7. The 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pro will feature the M3 Max chip, shipping in late November.