Two M3 Max Variants Reportedly Being Tested; Will Have Varying Number Of CPU Cores
Apple is said to introduce the M3 Pro and M3 Max in the middle of next year, adding more SoCs to its 3nm family of custom silicon. Earlier, we learned that one version of the M3 Max is being tested with a 14-core CPU, but as expected, Apple is also developing a more capable variant with additional cores.
Out of the first three M3 chipsets, the M3 Max will have the highest number of CPU and GPU cores, that is, until it gets overshadowed by the M3 Ultra. A previous report mentioned that one version would ship with a 14-core CPU and 40-core GPU. Thanks to Bloomberg, another version with a 16-core CPU is being tested and will likely be found in updated members of Apple’s 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.
It appears that with the M3 Max, Apple is not going above 40 GPU cores, and sadly, that is just a nominal increase over the M2 Max’s 38-core GPU variant, so on paper, the new Apple Silicon will not be as capable, right? Unlike the M2 Pro and M2 Max, Apple is said to use TSMC’s 3nm process for the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, resulting in performance and efficiency improvements over their direct predecessors.
Even though the numbers of CPU and GPU cores are not all that different from this year, the manufacturing process used to mass produce the three upcoming chips should make all the difference in the world. As most of you know, Apple uses a combination of performance and efficiency CPU cores in its custom SoCs, so the 16-core version of the M3 Max will have 12 performance cores and four power-efficiency ones, resulting in an increased multi-threaded performance boost.
The testing is apparently being done on an unreleased MacBook Pro model sporting the designation number ‘J514’, and it also features 48GB of unified RAM.
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