The M3 chip is Apple’s third-generation custom ARM-based system-on-a-chip, manufactured by Apple Inc. using 3-nanometer process technology. Launched in late 2023, the M3 was Apple’s first consumer chip built on the 3nm process, bringing substantial performance and efficiency gains.
The M3 features up to 8 CPU cores (4 performance and 4 efficiency cores), up to 10 GPU cores with hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, and a 16-core Neural Engine capable of 18 trillion operations per second.
Introduced between 2023-2024, M3-powered iMacs showcase key features including support for up to 24GB unified memory, enhanced media engines with ProRes encode/decode acceleration, hardware-accelerated H.264 and HEVC encoding, Wi-Fi 6E connectivity, and exceptional power efficiency that delivers workstation-level performance in an all-in-one form factor.
