In his newest Energy On e-newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed that Apple is testing what he believes is a Mac mini powered by an M3 Apple silicon chip. Gurman says an M3-powered Mac has began displaying up in developer logs for third-party apps.
Gurman says the Mac that’s displaying up carries a “Mac 15,12” mannequin identifier and boasts eight CPU cores, cut up evenly between effectivity cores and efficiency cores, plus 10 GPU cores and 24GB of RAM.
The Mac mini is claimed to be working macOS Sonoma 14.1, which when launched would be the first full-point replace for Apple’s upcoming macOS 14 working system for the Mac.
For the reason that Mac in query has specs much like Apple’s base M2 Mac mini, Gurman believes the M3 Mac Apple is testing is a next-generation Mac mini.
Gurman mentioned that he expects to see the primary M3 Macs unveiled as early as October. Nevertheless, he doesn’t count on to see the M3 Mac mini to be launched as one of many early fashions.
The M3 chip will possible use TSMC’s 3nm fabrication course of, which ought to lead to important efficiency and energy effectivity boosts over the present 5nm-based M2 chip that’s utilized in present Macs.
M3 Max for the MacBook Professional
Gurman additionally wrote for Bloomberg immediately that Apple can also be testing its next-generation M3 Max chip, which is able to change the M2 Max chip within the next-generation of MacBook Professional fashions anticipated to be launched in 2024.
References to the M3 Max have additionally been present in developer check logs. The M3 Max is claimed to have a 16-core CPU — 12 high-performance cores and 4 effectivity cores — and a 40-core GPU. That is in comparison with the M2 Max chip at present getting used, which incorporates a 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU.
Whereas the check machine boasts 48GB RAM, there must be increased reminiscence choices obtainable when the brand new M3 Max-powered MacBook Execs go in the marketplace. The present MacBook Professional may be configured with as much as 96GB of RAM.
Apple’s M3 Max chip can also be anticipated to make use of TSMC’s new 3-nanometer fabrication course of, which ought to present important pace and effectivity enhancements over the M2 Max. The logs present the chip is at present powering an unreleased MacBook Professional with the codename “J514.”
Along with the M3 Max, Apple may also provide an M3 Professional chip that’s anticipated to boast a 12-core CPU and an 18-core GPU.
Gurman expects to see the discharge of the primary spherical of M3-powered Macs someday in October. Nevertheless, he expects to see solely 13-inch MacBook Air and 13-inch MacBook Professional fashions utilizing the usual M3 chip at the moment. The M3 Max-powered 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Professional fashions are anticipated to debut in 2024.
In April, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote that his sources instructed him that Apple’s next-generation M3 chip will start mass manufacturing throughout the second half of 2023. Kuo mentioned that M3 chip manufacturing will start “barely forward” of manufacturing of the M3 Professional and M3 Max chips.
[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.]