Apple M3


Apple M3 is a series of ARM-based system on a chip designed by Apple Inc., part of the Apple silicon series, as a central processing unit and graphics processing unit for its Mac desktops and notebooks and the iPad Air tablets. Released in late 2023, it is the third generation of ARM architecture intended for Apple's Mac computers after switching from Intel Core to Apple silicon, succeeding the Apple M2.

Release

Apple announced the M3 on October 30, 2023, at its Halloween-themed Scary Fast online event, along with models of the iMac and the MacBook Pro using the M3.

Design

The M3 series is Apple's first 3 nm design for desktops and notebooks. It is manufactured by TSMC.

CPU

  • M3: 8-core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
  • M3 Pro: 11- or 12-core CPU with 5 or 6 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores
  • M3 Max: 14- or 16-core CPU with 10 or 12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores
  • M3 Ultra: 28- or 32-core CPU with 20 or 24 performance core and 8 efficiency cores

    GPU

The redesigned GPU includes features like Dynamic Caching, Mesh Shading, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing.
The Dynamic Caching technology allocates local memory in real time. Unlike conventional approaches, Dynamic Caching ensures that only the precise amount of memory required for a task is used, thereby optimizing memory usage and potentially enhancing performance and efficiency. This is particularly beneficial for graphics-intensive tasks, where dynamic memory allocation can be critical.
Supported codecs on the M3 include 8K H.264, 8K H.265, 8K Apple ProRes, VP9, JPEG and AV1 decoding.

NPU

The M3 contains dedicated neural network hardware in a 16-core Neural Engine capable of executing over 18 trillion operations per second, which is faster than the A16 Bionic's 17 trillion operations per second NPU seen in the iPhone 14 Pro series.

AI

Apple specifically targeted AI development and workloads, both with the Neural Engine and with the increased maximum memory of the M3 Max, allowing AI models with high numbers of parameters. Apple claims a 15% performance improvement for AI workloads on the M3.

Memory

The M3's Unified Memory Architecture is similar to the M2 generation; M3 SoCs use 6,400 MT/s LPDDR5 SDRAM. As with prior M series SoCs, this serves as both RAM and video RAM. The M3 has 8 memory controllers, the M3 Pro has 12 and the M3 Max has 32. Each controller is 16-bits wide and is capable of accessing up to 4 GiB of memory.
The M3 Pro and 14-core M3 Max have lower memory bandwidth than the M1/M2 Pro and M1/M2 Max respectively. The M3 Pro has a 192-bit memory bus where the M1 and M2 Pro had a 256-bit bus, resulting in only 150 GB/sec bandwidth versus 200 GB/sec for its predecessors. The 14-core M3 Max only enables 24 out of the 32 controllers, therefore it has 300 GB/sec vs. the 400 GB/sec for all models of the M1 and M2 Max, while the 16-core M3 Max has the same 400 GB/sec as the prior M1 and M2 Max models.

Other features

Other components include an image signal processor, a NVM Express storage controller, a Secure Enclave, and a USB4 controller that includes Thunderbolt 4 or Thunderbolt 5 support.

Products that use the Apple M3 series

M3

  • MacBook Pro - 10-core GPU
  • MacBook Air - 8 and 10-core GPU
  • iMac - 10-core GPU
  • iPad Air - 9 core GPU

    M3 Pro

  • MacBook Pro - 14 and 18-core GPU

    M3 Max

  • MacBook Pro - 30 and 40-core GPU

    M3 Ultra

  • Mac Studio - 60 and 80-core GPU

    Variants

The table below shows the various SoCs.