Apple M3 Pro
vs
Apple M6 12 Cores
vs
CPU Comparison Result
Below are the results of a comparison of
Apple M3 Pro
and
Apple M6 12 Cores
processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.
Advantages
- Higher Memory Type: Unified LPDDR5-6400 (Unified LPDDR5-6400 vs Unified memory)
- Higher Technology: 2 nm (3 nm vs 2 nm)
- Newer Launch Date: August 2026 (October 2023 vs August 2026)
Basic
Apple
Label Name
Apple
October 2023
Launch Date
August 2026
Laptop
Platform
Laptop
Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores
CPU Architecture
-
Apple M3 Pro
CPU Name
Apple M6
Apple M3 Pro
Model Name
Apple M6 12 Cores
TSMC
Foundry
TSMC N2
Apple M3 series
Generation
M6
CPU Specifications
-
Performance-core Multi-Core Max Frequency
4.61 GHz
-
Super-core Max Frequency
4.80 GHz
12
Total Cores
Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).
12
12
Total Threads
12
6
Performance-cores
4
6
Efficient-cores
6
-
Super-cores
2
2.75 GHz
Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency
3.20 GHz
NEON
Instruction Set Extensions
-
4.06 GHz
Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency
-
ARMv8-A, NEON
Extended Instruction Set
-
3 MB total L1 cache
L1 Cache
-
20 MB L2 cache
L2 Cache
-
12 MB system level cache
L3 Cache
-
3 nm
Technology
Lithography refers to the semiconductor technology used to manufacture an integrated circuit, and is reported in nanometer (nm), indicative of the size of features built on the semiconductor.
2 nm
ARMv8-A
Instruction Set
An instruction set architecture (ISA) defines the instructions a processor can execute. Common architectures include x86-64, ARM and RISC-V. The ISA determines software compatibility, while optional instruction extensions add specialized capabilities.
-
37 billion
Transistor Count
-
Memory Specifications
192-bit
Memory Bus Width
-
Unified LPDDR5-6400
Memory Type
Unified memory
LPDDR5-6400
LPDDR5 Speed
10667 MT/s
36 GB
Max Memory Size
Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.
32 GB
150 GB/s
Max Memory Bandwidth
Max Memory bandwidth is the maximum rate at which data can be read from or stored into a semiconductor memory by the processor (in GB/s).
170 GB/s
6400 MT/s
Maximum Memory Speed
-
GPU Specifications
Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1
External Display Standard
DisplayPort 1.4 over Thunderbolt 4; HDMI
Apple M3 Pro GPU
GPU Name
Apple M6 12-core GPU
-
Hardware-accelerated ray tracing
Supported
Up to two 6K 60Hz displays over Thunderbolt; or one 6K 60Hz display plus one 4K 144Hz display over HDMI; HDMI up to 8K 60Hz or 4K 240Hz
Max External Display Resolution
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video; AV1 decode
Video Concurrency
-
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1 decode
Video Decode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
Video Encode
H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW
Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration and AV1 decode
Video Processing Unit
-
1296 MHz
GPU Max Dynamic Frequency
-
18
Graphics Core Count
12
-
Max Resolution
Up to 8K at 60Hz or 5K at 120Hz or 4K at 240Hz
Up to 2 external displays
Number of Displays Supported
3
Metal, OpenCL
GPU APIs
-
Up to 4.6 TFLOPS FP32
Graphics Performance
-
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, and AV1 decode
Media Engine
Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes and ProRes RAW; AV1 decode
1
Video Decode Engines
1
1
Video Encode Engines
1
1
ProRes Encode/Decode Engines
1
Yes
OpenCL Support
OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.
-
AI Specifications
16-core Apple Neural Engine
AI Engine
Dual 16-core Neural Engine; Neural Accelerators in each GPU core
16
Neural Engine Core Count
32
Apple Neural Engine
NPU Name
Dual 16-core Neural Engine
18 TOPS
NPU Performance
-
Connectivity
Yes
Bluetooth Support
-
Bluetooth 5.3
Bluetooth Version
-
Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)
Wi-Fi Standard
-
Interfaces and Ports
Yes, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40 Gb/s
Thunderbolt Support
Thunderbolt 4
USB4
USB Version
-
Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s
USB4 Support
Supported
Miscellaneous
Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust
Hardware-Verified Secure Boot
-
Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions
Runtime Anti-Exploitation
-
Benchmarks
Geekbench 6 Single Core
Apple M3 Pro
3100
Apple M6 12 Cores
4698
+52%
Geekbench 6 Multi Core
Apple M3 Pro
15263
Apple M6 12 Cores
21302
+40%
Cinebench 2024 Single Core
Apple M3 Pro
142
Apple M6 12 Cores
221
+56%
Cinebench 2024 Multi Core
Apple M3 Pro
1059
Apple M6 12 Cores
1468
+39%
Related CPU Comparisons
Share in social media
Or Link To Us
<a href="https://cputronic.com/cpu/compare/apple-m3-pro-vs-apple-m6-12-cores" target="_blank">Apple M3 Pro vs Apple M6 12 Cores</a>