Home / CPU Comparison / Apple M3 or Apple M2 Pro: What's better?

Apple M3

vs

Apple M2 Pro

CPU Comparison Result

Below are the results of a comparison of Apple M3 and Apple M2 Pro processors based on key performance characteristics, as well as power consumption and much more.

Advantages

Apple M3

Higher Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency: 4.06 GHz (4.06 GHz vs 3.504 GHz)
Higher Technology: 3 nm (3 nm vs 5 nm)
Newer Launch Date: October 2023 (October 2023 vs January 2023)

Apple M2 Pro

More Total Cores: 12 (8 vs 12)

Basic

Apple

Label Name

Apple

October 2023

Launch Date

January 2023

Laptop

Platform

Laptop

Apple M3 performance cores + efficiency cores

CPU Architecture

Apple Avalanche + Apple Blizzard

Apple M3

CPU Name

Apple M2 Pro

Apple M3

Model Name

The Intel processor number is just one of several factors - along with processor brand, system configurations, and system-level benchmarks - to be considered when choosing the right processor for your computing needs.

Apple M2 Pro

TSMC

Foundry

TSMC

Apple M3 series

Generation

Apple M2 series

CPU Specifications

Total Cores

Cores is a hardware term that describes the number of independent central processing units in a single computing component (die or chip).

Total Threads

Where applicable, Intel® Hyper-Threading Technology is only available on Performance-cores.

Performance-cores

Efficient-cores

2.75 GHz

Efficient-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum E-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

2.424 GHz

NEON

Instruction Set Extensions

NEON

4.06 GHz

Performance-core Max Turbo Frequency

Maximum P-core turbo frequency derived from Intel® Turbo Boost Technology.

3.504 GHz

ARMv8.6-A, NEON

Extended Instruction Set

ARMv8-A, NEON

P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core

L1 Cache

P-cores: 192 KB instruction + 128 KB data per core; E-cores: 128 KB instruction + 64 KB data per core

P-core cluster: 16 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB

L2 Cache

P-core cluster: 36 MB; E-core cluster: 4 MB

L3 Cache

24 MB system level 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.

5 nm

ARMv8.6-A

Instruction Set

The instruction set is a hard program stored inside the CPU that guides and optimizes CPU operations. With these instruction sets, the CPU can run more efficiently. There are many manufacturers that design CPUs, which results in different instruction sets, such as the 8086 instruction set for the Intel camp and the RISC instruction set for the ARM camp. x86, ARM v8, and MIPS are all codes for instruction sets. Instruction sets can be extended; for example, x86 added 64-bit support to create x86-64. Manufacturers developing CPUs that are compatible with a certain instruction set need authorization from the instruction set patent holder. A typical example is Intel authorizing AMD, enabling the latter to develop CPUs compatible with the x86 instruction set.

ARMv8-A

25 billion

Transistor Count

40 billion

Memory Specifications

128-bit

Memory Bus Width

256-bit

Unified LPDDR5-6400

Memory Type

Intel® processors come in four different types: Single Channel, Dual Channel, Triple Channel, and Flex Mode. Maximum supported memory speed may be lower when populating multiple DIMMs per channel on products that support multiple memory channels.

Unified LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5-6400

LPDDR5 Speed

LPDDR5-6400

24 GB

Max Memory Size

Max memory size refers to the maximum memory capacity supported by the processor.

32 GB

100 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).

200 GB/s

6400 MT/s

Maximum Memory Speed

6400 MT/s

GPU Specifications

Thunderbolt 3 / USB4 with DisplayPort, HDMI

External Display Standard

Thunderbolt 4, HDMI 2.1

Apple M3 GPU

GPU Name

Apple M2 Pro GPU

Up to 6K 60Hz external display; up to 5K 60Hz second external display with lid closed; HDMI up to 4K 120Hz

Max External Display Resolution

Up to two 6K 60Hz displays over Thunderbolt, or one 8K 60Hz display over HDMI

Hardware-accelerated video encode/decode; AV1 decode

Video Concurrency

Multiple streams of 4K and 8K ProRes video

H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, AV1 decode

Video Decode

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

Apple media engine with ProRes acceleration

GPU Base Frequency

444 MHz

1400 MHz

GPU Max Dynamic Frequency

1398 MHz

Graphics Core Count

Up to 2 external displays with lid closed

Number of Displays Supported

Up to 2 external displays

Metal, OpenCL

GPU APIs

Metal, OpenCL

Up to 3.55 TFLOPS FP32

Graphics Performance

Up to 6.8 TFLOPS FP32

Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, ProRes RAW, and AV1 decode

Media Engine

Hardware-accelerated H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW

Video Decode Engines

Video Encode Engines

ProRes Encode/Decode Engines

Yes

OpenCL Support

OpenCL (Open Computing Language) is a multi-platform API (Application Programming Interface) for heterogeneous parallel programming.

Yes

AI Specifications

16-core Apple Neural Engine

AI Engine

16-core Apple Neural Engine

Neural Engine Core Count

Apple Neural Engine

NPU Name

Apple Neural Engine

18 TOPS

NPU Performance

15.8 TOPS

Connectivity

Yes

Bluetooth Support

Yes

Bluetooth 5.3

Bluetooth Version

Bluetooth 5.3

Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)

Wi-Fi Standard

Wi-Fi 6E (802.11ax)

Interfaces and Ports

Yes, Thunderbolt 3 up to 40 Gb/s

Thunderbolt Support

Yes, Thunderbolt 4 up to 40 Gb/s

USB4

USB Version

USB4

Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s

USB4 Support

Yes, USB4 up to 40 Gb/s

Miscellaneous

Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust

Hardware-Verified Secure Boot

Yes, Apple silicon secure boot chain of trust

Image Signal Processor

Apple image signal processor

Kernel Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Fast Permission Restrictions

Runtime Anti-Exploitation

Kernel Integrity Protection, Fast Permission Restrictions, System Coprocessor Integrity Protection, Pointer Authentication Codes, Secure Page Table Monitor

Secure Enclave

Security Processor

Secure Enclave