A brand new report out of Taiwan from analysis agency TrendForce cites ICsmart in a declare that Apple is engaged on a brand new M3-powered Mac Studio mannequin for a attainable mid-2024 launch.
If the rumored Mac Studio does debut round that point, it’s doubtless we’ll see it unveiled at Apple’s Worldwide Developer’s Convention (WWDC) in June, following within the steps of final 12 months’s WWDC 2023 debut of Apple’s present M2 Mac Studio fashions.
Considerably surprisingly, the article makes no point out of Apple’s solely different M2 Extremely-powered Mac, the Mac Professional. Whereas it’s logical to imagine that the Mac Professional would additionally obtain an under-the-hood M3 Extremely improve alongside the Mac Studio, no point out was product of such a spec improve being readied for the Mac Professional this 12 months.
The TrendForce report says that the M3 Extremely chip powering the brand new Mac Studio shall be fabricated utilizing TSMC’s N3E node, which can be anticipated for use for the A18 chip within the iPhone 16, which is able to doubtless debut in September of this 12 months.
If the report is right, the M3 Extremely chip can be Apple’s first N3E chip. The M3, M3 Professional, and M3 Max chips are all fabricated utilizing TSMC’s N3B course of, which was used for the A17 Professional that powers the present iPhone 15 Professional and iPhone 15 Professional Max. N3E is an improved model of TSMC’s 3nm fabrication course of, providing barely higher efficiency and an improved manufacturing yield.
All of Apple’s “Extremely” chips are made up of two “Max” chips which are linked by way of its UltraFusion chip interconnect know-how, making it uncommon for Apple to make use of N3E for the chip. Utilizing completely different nodes in the identical household of Apple Silicon chips can be considerably uncommon.
Such a transfer may additionally point out that Apple has plans to debut M4, M4 Professional, and M4 Max chips within the close to future, maybe as quickly as late this 12 months. On this case, the N3E course of would additionally assist the M3 Extremely Mac Studio to stay aggressive with any M4-powered Macs.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman mentioned in August that the M3 Extremely chips may function as many as 32 CPU cores (24 efficiency and eight effectivity) in its base configuration, whereas the highest configuration may boast as many as 32 CPU cores (24 efficiency and eight effectivity) and 80 GPU cores. Gurman predicted the chips can be used within the Mac Studio and the Mac Professional.
As regular, take any report like this with a grain of your favourite salt-free seasoning. That mentioned, we’ll keep alert for any more information a few new Mac Studio and can let you realize if we uncover something new.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]