
Apple is expected to introduce its first M3 Mac processors this year. The chips are said to be a grown-up version of the M1 chip that currently powers the iPhone, and the company believes they will offer significant performance improvements. This is because they are built on a 3nm process, which will allow them to have more cores than the current chip. The M3 chips are expected to have as many as four cores, which would be a significant improvement over the two that the current chip has. This is due to the fact that more cores mean faster processing of tasks. The company is also expecting the M3 processors to offer a 50% boost in Photoshop performance, which is something that will be a big selling point for many people.
According to Mark Gurman, who writes the Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Apple is testing a new Mac mini with an M3 processor. Gurman says that the device is undergoing testing on its campus, and it’s rumored to have eight CPU cores (made up of four efficiency cores and four performance cores), 10 GPU cores, and 24GB of system memory. Gurman claims the pint-sized computer is internally codenamed Mac 15,12, and he thinks it’s a replacement for the current generation of Mac mini.
He believes that the new Mac mini will be joined by a number of other laptops, including updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs as well as 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. He also expects that a new M3-powered iMac will be released, replacing the current generation of 24-inch models. Gurman doesn’t expect the refreshed Mac Studio and Mac Pro to get M3 processors, which makes sense because those computers only received M2 upgrades this year.
It’s not clear when Apple will release the Mac mini that has an M3 chip, but it’s possible that it could make an appearance at a spring event or WWDC 2024. It will likely take around 15 months to see an M3-powered MacBook Pro, but Gurman predicts that Apple will only have the Pro and Max iterations of the chip at launch.
Obviously, the Mac mini won’t be the only Mac that will use the new processors, but it will probably be the first one to get them. It’s also unlikely that Apple will add M3 processors to the Mac Pro and Mac Studio because those machines are more integrated. However, if the Pro and Max versions of those Macs do come out with the M3 chip, it will no doubt be an exciting day for Mac users.