Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Here’s why Apple’s M3 MacBook chip could destroy its rivals

Apple’s next round of M2 Macs is only a few weeks from being announced at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), but a new leak has already revealed the top-secret follow-up that is due out later this year, long after the WWDC dust has settled.

That’s because Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman has just spilled the beans on Apple’s M3 chip line-up, including hardware specifications for the M3 Pro that will likely find its way into the next MacBook Pro laptop. It’s the first time we’ve seen this level of detail for what could be one of the most exciting chips in recent years.

Apple's M2 MacBook Air is super thin and light.
Apple

According to Gurman, Apple has been testing Macs sporting the M3 Pro with a variety of third-party apps to ensure compatibility. The M3 Pro could be launched in late 2023 or early 2024, Gurman states, and will appear in the iMac, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air.

Recommended Videos

Gurman’s report claims the M3 Pro will come with 12 CPU cores (with six high-performance cores and six high-efficiency cores), 16 GPU cores, and 36GB of memory. Compared to the M2 Pro in the latest MacBook Pro, that’s an increase of two CPU cores, two GPU cores, and 4GB of memory.

That might not sound like much, but the entire M3 series is expected to come with a major trick up its sleeve: it will be made using a 3-nanometer process. But what does that mean exactly?

In layman’s terms, it means the chips will be much more powerful and efficient compared to the M2 chips, which were made using a 5nm process. So not only will the M3 Pro get more cores, but all of those cores will work harder and faster compared to the M2 predecessor. It’s a win-win situation for Apple fans.

A massive performance boost

The MacBook Pro open on a wooden table.
Digital Trends

While Gurman only claims to have info on the M3 Pro (which he states came from “data collected by an App Store developer”), he has nevertheless speculated on what the M3 Max and M3 Ultra chips could also look like.

For the M3 Max, Gurman has suggested it could come with up to 14 CPU cores and over 40 GPU cores. When it comes to the M3 Ultra, Gurman believes it might be equipped with 28 CPU cores and more than 80 graphics cores.

That sounds like a lot, but Gurman says it’s all down to the 3nm manufacturing process, which would allow Apple to pack in even more cores than was possible on older chips.

That means there could be an awful lot to look forward to on Apple’s Mac road map. The next batch of M2 Macs is almost here, but many people will now be excitedly peering further out to the horizon to see what’s coming after.

Alex Blake
Alex Blake has been working with Digital Trends since 2019, where he spends most of his time writing about Mac computers…
Apple silicon has made the MacBook Pro a consumer favorite
Someone using a MacBook Pro at a desk.

Apple’s computer lineup has greatly benefitted from its update to the M4 chip in 2024. The brand introduced the M4 MacBook Pro and iMac lines in the last year– and research has further indicated that Apple’s decision to shift from Intel processors to proprietary silicon was a solid move. It has made consumers favor Apple laptops more. 

According to statistics from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), MacBook form factors, in either MacBook Pro or MacBook Air made up 86% of Apple’s PC market share in 2024. Consumers especially favored the M4 MacBook Pro at a rate of 53%, while 33% of MacBook Air models shipped during the year, and 14% of iMac models. These figures vary only slightly from the year prior; however, CIRP noted that Apple appears to have weathered any fluctuations that may have occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Read more
Here’s how Apple’s first foldable MacBook might win me over
The Zenbook Fold 17 open on a table.

Rumors have persisted for years now that Apple is working on a touchscreen MacBook, but I’ve never been truly convinced. For one thing, I don’t see how a touchscreen could improve my MacBook experience enough to justify the inevitable price rise. This is Apple we’re talking about, after all, and there’s just no way that a touchscreen MacBook will possibly come cheap.

As well as that, I’ve long agreed with Steve Jobs’ belief that adding a touchscreen to a regular MacBook is an ergonomic nightmare. Constantly reaching up to the display is a quick way to exhaust your arms, and paining its users isn’t really part of Apple’s playbook. The Mac operating system isn’t designed for touch either, and in any case, adding a touchscreen would result in all manner of greasy fingerprints on your monitor. It’s never seemed like a good idea to me.

Read more
Apple might be working on two top secret monitors, and that could be big news for Mac users
A person using an Apple Mac Studio (2022) computer at a desk.

If you’re in the market for one of the best monitors and are leaning towards an Apple-branded product, you’ve got two options right now: the Studio Display and the Pro Display XDR. Yet while these are both excellent monitors in their own right, both of them have their problems -- but that might all be about to change.

That’s because a new rumor has claimed that Apple is secretly working on two new monitors. That means there’s a chance the company’s entire monitor range could be refreshed, which would be great news for creatives and professional users.
Updates are needed

Read more