Apple's M3 Ultra chip could have up to 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores
Apple only unveiled its M2 Ultra chip earlier this year at WWDC 2023 and yet here we are talking about its successor. Such is the unrelenting progress of consumer technology.
Word on the street is that Apple will announce its new M3 chip later this year in October. The M3 chip is significant because it's expected to be built on TSMC's new 3nm manufacturing process, which should give it noticeable performance and efficiency improvements.
And now, the rumour mill is turning its attention to the M3 Ultra, which would likely be Apple's flagship M3 chip.
According to rumours, the base M3 Ultra will start with a whopping 32 CPU cores and 64 GPU cores. Users who demand more performance can get the top-end M3, which will have the same 32 CPU cores but a staggering 80 GPU cores.
Here's a table showing how it compares to the current M2 Ultra:
| Model | Top-endM3 UItra | Top-endM2 Ultra | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU cores | 32 | 24 | ||
| Chip configuration | 24 performance cores | 8 efficiency cores | 16 performance cores | 8 efficiency cores |
| GPU cores | 80 | 76 | ||
| Model | BaseM3 Ultra | BaseM2 Ultra | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPU cores | 32 | 24 | ||
| Chip configuration | 24 performance cores | 8 efficiency cores | 16 performance cores | 8 efficiency cores |
| GPU cores | 64 | 60 | ||
What's interesting about the M3 Ultra is how Apple is keeping the number of efficiency cores the same and giving a big bump to the number of performance cores.
What's also intriguing is how minor the bump in GPU core count is. The M3 Ultra looks like it'll only get four more GPU cores over the M2 Ultra. Could this mean that Apple is prioritising CPU performance for the M3 Ultra?
At any rate, Apple is expected to debut the M3 in October beginning with the 13-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, and a new 24-inch iMac.
The 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro will follow next year with the M3 Pro and M3 Ultra, and then the M3 Ultra with the Mac Pro and Mac Studio perhaps sometime around WWDC 2024.
Source: Bloomberg
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