Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Could Vision Pro's M2 replace by M3 when launch next year?

Could Apple change M2 to M3 when shipping VP next year?

  • Total voters
    108
TigeRick

TigeRick

macrumors regular
Original poster
Oct 20, 2012
155
152
Malaysia
Guys, I feel odd about Apple using M2 chip with Vision Pro which is supposedly shipping early next year. Cause we all know M3 is coming soon (well, right after MBA 15 launch ;)). My best guess would be end of the year when Apple would introduce M3 with iMac, following by iPad Pro (14-inch?) next year. By the time next year, shipping Vision Pro with M2 sounds ridiculous especially with staring price of $3,499 😅...

So, is it possible Apple going to change M2 to M3? There are many reasons why Apple announced Vision Pro with M2 in June; release timings and afraid of jeopardizing M2 lineup. And most important reason of switching is because M3 provides much better graphics performance which is crucial of supporting 23M pixels and high refresh rate. Macbook Pro 16-inch has 7.7M pixels which Apple requires at least M2 Pro to drive it. Based on my estimate, M3 going to provide similar Metal performance of M1 Pro. So what do you guys think? I made a poll for your input, see you next year :p
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Juanchi007 and mjs916
It probably won't be a big deal for most people. If the M3 is already shipping in macs by then, then the Vision Pro will likely have one. But it won't be the first Apple product to have it.
 
Yes I agree, thought the same thing striaght after the keynote! I’m pretty sure M3 is coming later this year so I think the headset will absolutely use the M3 (massive efficiency and performance gains over M2). I think they just didn’t want to announce the M3 today so went with M2 for simplicity
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kierkegaarden and rcappo
I wonder if future versions will have a more custom chip designed just for this Vision Pro device. It needs the graphics processing power, but also needs to be even more energy efficient than a laptop. If they can simplify production with just one M3 chip, it might help bring the costs down however.
 
  • Like
Reactions: windowsblowsass
From Apple's point of view they need to get the thing in production.

For its successor, there might be a variant of the M3 that has the R1 integrated. The first in the family will be the A17, then the bigger M3 as yields improve. They won't want to put a custom Vision Pro chip in the way of that.
 
  • Like
Reactions: T'hain Esh Kelch and windowsblowsass
Apple couldn't publicly show a M3 chip on the Vision Pro to avoid the Osborne Effect for any and all M2 Macs & iPad Pros sold until Q1 2024.

A reason they'd us a M3 chip would be to improve the 2 hour battery life.

Apple did this before with the 2006 MBP 15" when a better part became available Apple bumped up the chip offered at no additional cost.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ke-iron, Jhonjhon236, Juanchi007 and 1 other person
With the relatively low volume of headsets that are expected to ship, and the benefits of using a more powerful and efficient chip, I think this will get a spec bump on launch at the same price.
 
  • Love
Reactions: Longplays
Could Pro really meant for M3 Pro?

Hmm, I have wild speculation of upcoming Vision Pro's SoC choice. Since M3 Pro/Max is rumored to be launching early next year, could Apple aim for putting M3 Pro inside Vision Pro ultimately???

As I said earlier 23M pixels are a lots to process (3 times more than MacBook Pro 16), if Apple wants to provide smooth experience especially with gaming, Pro level SoC is better choice. And with N3B process, Apple could reduce the die size and power significantly.

Any thoughts?
 
  • Like
Reactions: srknpower
It WORKS with an M2, so it shouldn't specifically NEED an M3. If it gets one, that is just icing on the cake.

BTW, I wonder if the R1 chip would be useful in other Apple devices?
 
TigeRick said:
Guys, I feel odd about Apple using M2 chip with Vision Pro which is supposedly shipping early next year. Cause we all know M3 is coming soon.
Click to expand...
We also know M4 is coming right after M3 and even on an ever so slightly improved 2nd generation 3nm process node. Personally I wouldn't buy any computer until M5, which frankly should've been M6 already!
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: ke-iron, T'hain Esh Kelch, Contact_Feanor and 4 others
I am guessing we will see the M3 launch next June (probably when they refresh the MBA). The vision pro is slated to launch way before that, so I guess it's stuck with the M2.
 
I was very surprised they didn't use a 3nm chip in the googles, as it could really benefit from the more efficient chip. The fact that it's shipping next year only is also surprising. I can think of the following reasons:

- they will actually ship it with M3 (but then why would they mention that it uses M2?)
- manufacturing this device is so difficult that they need another 6 months to prepare enough stock to satisfy projected demand, in that case M2 makes sense
- it is possible that the R1 chip uses 3nm technology
 
Abazigal said:
I am guessing we will see the M3 launch next June (probably when they refresh the MBA). The vision pro is slated to launch way before that, so I guess it's stuck with the M2.
Click to expand...
More likely Q1 2024 and not June. More likely the Vision Pro will receive a spec bump to M3 without price increase to improve the reported 2hr battery life.
 
leman said:
The fact that it's shipping next year only is also surprising. I can think of the following reasons:

- they will actually ship it with M3 (but then why would they mention that it uses M2?)
- manufacturing this device is so difficult that they need another 6 months to prepare enough stock to satisfy projected demand, in that case M2 makes sense
- it is possible that the R1 chip uses 3nm technology
Click to expand...
None of the above. The one true reason is, they want to give developers a heads-up in advance. So that the first third-party apps are already available at launch day. WWDC is still a developers conference and keeping the Vision Pro secret any longer would benefit nobody.
 
  • Like
Reactions: dante_mr and JPack
It would cost them more time/money. They’d need more time to test it internally, to send updated dev kits, to produce the consumer version. Don’t see it hapenning.
 
TigeRick said:
Could Pro really meant for M3 Pro?

Hmm, I have wild speculation of upcoming Vision Pro's SoC choice. Since M3 Pro/Max is rumored to be launching early next year, could Apple aim for putting M3 Pro inside Vision Pro ultimately???

As I said earlier 23M pixels are a lots to process (3 times more than MacBook Pro 16), if Apple wants to provide smooth experience especially with gaming, Pro level SoC is better choice. And with N3B process, Apple could reduce the die size and power significantly.

Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
Unlikely if it cannot improve the 2hr battery life.

Remember the days of PowerPC & Intel laptops that had 2hrs of battery?

Do you really want that for any consumer device?

M3 Pro/Max will likely come between Q1 2024 for M3 & Q1 2025 for M3 Ultra.

So likely 2H 2024.

Also Apple needs to improve the MSRP to those of the $429-1599 iPhone if it wants to replace it and push 1/3rd billion units annually.

$3499 makes it only affordable to the Mac Pro crowd. This is OK if you are the 1st 1 million units worldwide like software developers and people who nothing better to do with $3499.
 
If you change the hardware (even just the processor), the entire unit would have to go through an entire QA cycle again... and that would delay it going to manufacturing... (IMHO). Apple won't do that, it will be an M2.
 
M2 and two-hour battery life are already locked in. Apple wouldn't have announced it with those specs otherwise.

The focus isn't on the processor, but rather the experience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: ke-iron and Juanchi007
Algr said:
It WORKS with an M2, so it shouldn't specifically NEED an M3. If it gets one, that is just icing on the cake.

BTW, I wonder if the R1 chip would be useful in other Apple devices?
Click to expand...
R is for real time. R1 is real time processor that process multiple inputs (Vision Pro has 12 cameras, 5 sensors and 6 microphones) into a display within 12ms. So it would be useful for something that requires 'instant' processing. Electronic health focus wearables would benefit from that. Automatic car yes to avoid accident, so do any vehicles (flight, ship, train). Another ones are manufacturing robots, scientific equipment, camera, medical equipment, etc.
 
I really wish they would but maybe the production timelines don’t allow for enough time to ship with M3? That would be my guess.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back