Apple has reportedly started testing the M3 chips for the next-generation Mac lineup as it prepares to announce the refreshed M2 Macs at next month’s WWDC. In his latest weekly newsletter, Mark Gurman said that the tech giant is testing the M3 Macs with “third-party apps to ensure compatibility with its software ecosystem”.
As per an App Store developer, the new CPU will likely have 12 CPU cores, 18 graphics cores and 36GB of memory with six high-performance cores and six efficiency cores.
For context, the M1 Pro chip has eight CPU cores (six high-performance cores/two power-efficient cores), 14 graphics cores and 32GB of memory while the M2 Pro chip has 10 CPU cores (six high-performance cores/four power-efficient cores), 16 graphics cores and 32GB of memory.
Gurman also noted that this test is running on what appears to be a future high-end MacBook Pro with the upcoming macOS 14.0 and is likely the base-level version of what will be the M3 Pro coming next year.
Apple is also already working on M3-based iMacs, high-end and low-end MacBook Pros, and MacBook Airs, he said.
“If the M3 Max were to get a similar gain as the M2 Max (compared with the M1 Max), that would mean Apple’s next high-end MacBook Pro chip could come with up to 14 CPU cores and more than a whopping 40 graphics cores. Speculating even further, that would mean the M3 Ultra chip could top out at 28 CPU cores and sport more than 80 graphics cores, up from a 64-core limit on the M1 Ultra,” he added.
The new M2 Macs are likely to come around the June-July period, while the M3 devices could arrive either towards the end of this year or early in 2024.
Apple’s Mac business was down by 31 percent and the M3 chips could help the company bring back the lost customer base.
