Apple unveils M3 chip family, MacBook Pro lineup, and iMac at Scary Fast event

At Apple’s Scary Fast launch event, the tech giant unveiled its M3 chip family, including the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, featuring a next-generation GPU architecture, enhanced CPU, and Neural Engine. Additionally, a new MacBook Pro lineup powered by the next generation of M3 chips and a 24-inch iMac equipped with the M3 chip were unveiled.

M3 family of chips

Apple’s journey with Mac silicon has seen significant progress since the introduction of the initial M1 chip in 2020. Now, nearly three years later, the tech firm has revealed a trio of chips—M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max—all built using 3-nanometer process technology.

The M3 chip family features a next-gen GPU with Dynamic Caching, optimising memory allocation in real-time for improved performance in demanding professional applications and games. With the M3 chips, hardware-accelerated ray tracing is introduced, enabling highly realistic images. Together with the new graphics architecture, this boosts performance up to 2.5 times that of the M1 chip family in professional applications.

The M3 chips feature an advanced CPU with performance cores that are 30% faster than the M1, and efficiency cores that are 50% faster, resulting in faster everyday tasks and improved battery life. The chips include an improved Neural Engine, 60% faster than the M1, enhancing AI and ML workflows. Each M3 chip features up to 128GB of unified memory.

The M3 boasts a 10-core GPU, 65% faster than the M1 for graphics, and an 8-core CPU, including four performance cores and four efficiency cores, providing a 35% boost in CPU performance over the M1. It supports up to 24GB of unified memory.

The M3 Pro includes an 18-core GPU, 40% faster than the M1 Pro, and a 12-core CPU with six performance cores and six efficiency cores, offering single-threaded performance up to 30% faster than the M1 Pro, with support for up to 36GB of unified memory.

The M3 Max, equipped with a 40-core GPU, offers 50% faster than the M1 Max and supports up to 128GB of unified memory. Its 16-core CPU includes 12 performance cores and four efficiency cores, providing up to 80% faster performance than the M1 Max.

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MacBook Pro with M3 chips

The 14-inch MacBook Pro powered by the M3 chip is designed for both everyday tasks and continuous high performance in professional applications and games. It outpaces the 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 by up to 60%, according to Apple. The base price for the 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 starts at Rs 1,69,900.

The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro featuring the M3 Pro offer enhanced performance and expanded support for unified memory. Apple says that the MacBook Pro with M3 Pro delivers up to a 40% boost in speed compared to the 16-inch model with M1 Pro The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Pro starts at Rs 1,99,900, while the 16-inch MacBook Pro begins at Rs 2,49,900.

The 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, featuring the M3 Max, offer powerful GPU and CPU performance and come with up to 128GB of unified memory. These models are designed to tackle demanding workflows and multitasking within professional applications.

Pricing for the MacBook Pro with M3 Max in India is currently unavailable. The MacBook Pro models featuring the M3 Pro and M3 Max are now offered in a space black colour variant.

24‑inch iMac with M3 chip

The 24-inch iMac, powered by the M3 chip, offers enhanced performance, up to 2 times faster than its predecessor with the M1 chip. It boasts a 4.5K Retina display with over 11.3 million pixels and a billion colours, along with faster wireless connectivity. Compared to Intel-based iMacs, the new iMac is up to 2.5 times faster than the 27-inch models and 4 times faster than the most powerful 21.5-inch model, according to Apple.

The iMac with an 8-core GPU is priced starting at Rs 134,900 and is offered in green, pink, blue, and silver. The iMac with a 10-core GPU starts at Rs 154,900 and is available in three more colours--yellow, orange, and purple.