Apple M3 chip may launch in 3 variants; All details

Apple Event: After months of anticipation, the launch of the next-generation Apple Silicon chip is just around the corner. Apple's event, dubbed 'Scary Fast,' perhaps a reference to the new M3 chips, will occur at 5 p.m. (Pacific time) on October 30. It will likely be called M3, and the new chip is expected to improve performance while offering better power efficiency. It could power Apple's new Macs, such as the MacBook Pro and iMac. The chip itself is expected to come in different variants, depending on the number of cores, and could also mark a shift towards a 3-nanometer production process. Let's take a closer look at Apple's upcoming M3 chips.

Apple M3 Chips: Details

In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman shared details about the types of M3 chips Apple plans to introduce. While it had previously been suggested that four variants of the M3 could appear, only details on three of them have been revealed so far, with no information on the M3 Ultra. Therefore, we only expect to see three variants of the M3 chip: M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max.

1. M3: According to Gurman, the basic M3 chipset would feature 8 CPU cores, with 4 high-performance cores and 4 efficiency cores. Additionally, it could include up to 10 GPU cores, which is the same as the M2 but could offer improved memory configurations, getting better performance from each core.

2. M3 Pro: The high-end M3 chip, the M3 Pro, is reportedly being tested in different configurations. According to Gurman, it could include up to 6 performance and 6 efficiency cores, making it 12 CPU cores in total. The GPU cores are also expected to increase to 18. On the other hand, the top configuration would get 14 CPU cores (with 2 additional performance cores) and 20 GPU cores.

3. M3 Max: The M3 Max chip will reportedly feature 16 cores in one of its configurations, with 12 high-performance and 4 efficiency cores. The GPU cores could be increased up to 40 in its top configuration. According to Gurman, the M3 Max is the high-end chip in the M3 lineup and is expected to get 32 GPU cores in the base configuration.

Please note that all of the information above is based on unofficial reports and should be taken with a grain of salt until there is official information from Apple, which is expected to be at the Scary Fast event.