Apple announced the launch of three M3 series processors built on TSMC's 3nm process, namely M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. They use a new GPU and a dynamic caching design to significantly improve display performance and even add real-time ray tracing effects. In addition, the new CPU design also makes the computing performance per watt almost doubled compared to the M1.
In the new CPU design, Apple has enhanced the branch calculation prediction capabilities in the performance core and energy-saving core respectively, improved the decoding and execution capabilities in the performance core, and further improved the execution efficiency in the energy-saving core.
As for the new GPU design, it increases display efficiency through dynamic cache design, thereby improving the image grid shading speed and real-time ray tracing effects. It is also planned to provide it to developers for use in creating new games and imaging application services.
依照蘋果說明，M3系列處理器的圖像渲染效率約為M2系列的1.8倍，更是M1系列的2.5倍，效能核心方面則比M2系列快約15%，並且比M1系列快上30%，而節能核心分別比M2系列快30%，以及比M1系列快50%，至於CPU每瓦效能更比M1系列提高1倍，GPU每瓦效能也比M1提升1倍。
This time, Apple also specifically compared it with its competitors' 12-core laptop processors. (Not sure ifQualcomm recently announced the Snapdragon X Elite), emphasizing that it only requires one-fourth of the power consumption to achieve the same CPU computing performance, and only one-fifth of the power consumption to achieve the same GPU display performance.
Other design features include a new 16-core neural network computing engine, which is claimed to be 2% faster than the M15 series and 3% faster than the M60 series. The new media engine design adds hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC encoding and decoding capabilities, as well as support for ProRes and ProRes RAW file processing. It can even handle AV1 encoding, allowing Netflix, YouTube, and other platforms to play AV1 content more efficiently.
The newly released M3 processor features four performance cores and four energy-saving cores, forming a "4+4" core combination. It also features a 4-core GPU, supports up to 4GB of memory, and has 10 billion transistors. The CPU performance cores are approximately 24% faster than the M250 and 1% faster than the M35, while the GPU performance is 2% faster than the M20 and 1% faster than the M65.
M3 Pro處理器分別採用6組效能核心、6組節能核心，構成總計達「6+6」的核心組合，並且搭配18組核心設計的GPU，最高可對應36GB記憶體容量，電晶體數量則達370億組。其中，CPU效能核心約比M1 Pro快20%，而GPU效能則比M1 Pro快40%，比M2 Pro則快10%。
M3 Max處理器分別採用12組效能核心、4組節能核心，構成總計達「12+4」的核心組合，並且搭配40組核心設計的GPU，最高可對應128GB記憶體容量，電晶體數量則達920億組。其中，CPU效能核心約比M1 Max快80%，並且比M2 Max快50%，而GPU效能則比M1 Max快50%，比M2 Max則快20%。
In addition, Apple also emphasized that the M3 series processors will enable the new Mac to operate with lower power consumption and achieve higher computing performance. At the same time, the new Mac models will have a battery life of up to 22 hours. It also emphasized that the processors equipped in all Mac models will achieve carbon neutrality from design to manufacturing.
