Apple M3 vs M3 Pro vs M3 Max: What makes these chips different?

3 min. read

Published on October 31, 2023

published on October 31, 2023

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Apple is coming hot this week. The tech giant announced a series of new M3 chips and a brand-new MacBook Pro line with an interesting matte black color. The question we now have is: how do these chips compare against each other? Let’s dig in: Apple M3 vs M3 Pro vs M3 Max.

They call their debut in 3-nanometer chips “the most advanced chips for a personal computer,” and rightfully so. It has a next-gen GPU, a dramatically better CPU and Neural Engine, and better-unified memory

In the official presentation, Apple takes the chips into a series of tests. With 25 billion transistors, the 10-core GPU can showcase incredibly realistic reflections in games like never before. The 8-core CPU, composed of 4 performance cores & 4 efficiency cores, is faster than the M1.

Enough with the tech jargon. What’s the difference between these chips? Here are the key comparisons you need to know about Apple M3 vs M3 Pro vs M3 Max.

Apple M3 vs M3 Pro vs M3 Max: Here are the key differences

Comparisons	Apple M3	Apple M3 Pro	Apple M3 Max
CPU	8?core CPU with 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, and 100GB/s memory bandwidth	11?core CPU with 5 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, or 12?core CPU with 6 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, and 150GB/s memory bandwidth	14?core CPU with 10 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, and 300GB/s memory bandwidth
GPU	10?core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing	14?core GPU, or 18?core GPU both with hardware-accelerated ray tracing	30?core GPU with hardware-accelerated ray tracing
Memory support	8GB unified memory Configurable to 16GB or 24GB	18GB unified memory Configurable to: 36GB (M3 Pro or M3 Max with 14?core CPU), or 96GB (M3 Max with 14?core CPU), or 48GB, 64GB, or 128GB (M3 Max with 16?core CPU)	36GB unified memory Configurable to: 96GB (M3 Max with 14?core CPU) or 48GB, 64GB, or 128GB (M3 Max with 16?core CPU)
Wireless	Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.3	Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.3	Wi-Fi 6E & Bluetooth 5.3
Supported laptop(s)	MacBook Pro with M3 chip in space gray or silver finish, 14-inch display	MacBook Pro with Apple M3 Pro with space black or silver finish, 14 or 16-inch display	MacBook Pro with M3 Max, with space black or silver finish, 14 or 16-inch display

As you can see on the comparison table, alll Apple’s M3 family of chips features a next-generation GPU with major performance and efficiency improvements, as well as new rendering features and support for AV1 decode.

Apple’s M3 chips support ray tracing, while the recently-released Snapdragon X Elite chips do not. You can check our key comparisons here.

Rafly Gilang

Tech Reporter

Rafly is a reporter with years of journalistic experience, ranging from technology, business, social, and culture. Currently reporting news on Microsoft-related products, tech, and AI on Windows Report and MSPowerUser. Got a tip? Send it to [email protected].