Apple’s next MacBook Pro models with the M3 Max chip will be its most powerful laptops yet with up to 16 processing and 40 graphics cores.
Apple is currently testing the M3 Max as a successor to the M2 Max, found in the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros (2023) and Mac Studio (2023).
You’ll need to wait a little longer to get a 14 or 16-inch MacBook Pro equipped with the M3 Max, however, as these laptops won’t come out until 2024.
Apple is testing the M3 Max chip for the next MacBook Pro
The new M3 Max chip includes 16 main processing cores and 40 graphics cores, according to test logs from a third-party Mac app developer that were seen by Bloomberg News. The processor is at the heart of a high-end MacBook Pro laptop—a model codenamed J514—that’s expected to debut next year.
The configuration being tested showed 48 gigabytes of unified memory. Apple will undoubtedly let people choose more RAM, given the current MacBook Pro maxes out at 96 gigabytes of unified memory.
M3 Max vs. M2 Max
By comparison, the current M2 Max powering the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro has twelve processing cores and 38 graphics cores. Adding four extra CPU cores and a pair of GPU cores isn’t the only way the M3 Max will outperform its predecessor.
The M3 Max chip should be manufactured using TSMC’s 3-nanometer process that features even smaller transistors, resulting in a significant speed bump over the M2 chips built on the 5-nanometer node and increased power efficiency.
As mentioned, these performant MacBook Pros will arrive sometime in 2024. This year, Apple is expected to transition six Mac computers to the standard M3 chip, including the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Air.
The standard M3 will apparently use eight processing cores and up to ten graphics cores. The more powerful M3 Pro chip for higher-end configurations will reportedly feature twelve processing and eighteen graphics cores.