Apple (AAPL) has introduced three new chips: M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, all of which share the same CPU and GPU architecture as the A17 Pro chip found in the iPhone 15 Pro.
These chips are manufactured using $Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing(TSM)$ new 3-nanometer process. Apple claims that the performance cores in any M3 processor can be up to 30% faster than those in the M1, while the efficiency cores can be up to 50% faster. The performance comparisons made by Apple are mostly against the M1, which is useful for M2 Mac users as they are unlikely to upgrade to the M3.
Compared to the M2, the regular M3 does not have any additional cores and has a maximum memory capacity of 24GB, just like the M2. However, it has 5 billion more transistors and offers a 20% increase in CPU performance compared to the M2. It still features an 8-core CPU with evenly distributed performance and efficiency cores, as well as a 10-core GPU (some entry-level models may have a partially disabled 8-core GPU).
The M3 Pro is a chip with 37 billion transistors, 3 billion fewer than the M2 Pro. The M2 Pro has eight performance cores, four efficiency cores, and up to 19 GPU cores. The M3 Pro still has 12 cores but has been upgraded from an 8+4 configuration to a 6+6 configuration, with a maximum GPU configuration of 18 cores. The maximum memory capacity has slightly increased from 32GB to 36GB. Therefore, it will rely on architectural improvements and speed enhancements to increase performance.
The M3 Max has seen a significant jump in transistor count from 67 billion in the M2 Max to 92 billion. It includes 12 performance cores, 4 efficiency cores, and an additional four large cores, making it the biggest upgrade in this lineup. The GPU has also become larger, increasing from a maximum of 38 cores to a maximum of 40 cores. The maximum memory capacity has also increased from 96GB to 128GB. The low-end M3 still supports two displays, including an internal display.
The M3 Pro supports a total of three displays, while the M3 Max can drive up to five displays in total. The M3 series chips also feature the same number of ProRes video encoding and decoding engines for those who use them - one each in the M3 and M3 Pro, and two in the M3 Max. The only member of the M3 series that was not discussed today (assuming no new members are added) is the M3 Ultra.
This top-of-the-line M3 chip is likely to be simply two M3 Max chips bundled together, similar to the previous M1 Ultra and M2 Ultra. However, Apple just recently refreshed the Mac Studio and Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra in June, so we do not expect to see any changes until the summer of 2024.
In general, compared to the upgrade of $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$ , Apple's chips are still slightly inferior. However, the most important thing is that the release of Apple's chips may bring a new version of the MacBook Pro, although it has been less than 10 months since the last update.
Currently, the sales of the iPhone 15 series are not as strong as expected, and Apple's products in AI have not matured enough to be commercialized. Therefore, improving the new product update category and diverting the attention of investors and users to hardware such as chips.
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