Macs With 'M3' Chips Expected to Use TSMC's 3nm Chip Technology With Test Production Reportedly Underway

[chucker23n1]

Unless you work for Apple (and are violating your NDA), you have no way of knowing this. We know nothing more than rumors (and not even much there) about the M2.

If you know more than what's already been reported, please share the links with us.

That's technically true, but also kind of moot. We also don't technically know if the M2 is even a thing that exists.

But assuming it does, then yes, of course the M2 is going to be better than the M1 Pro in some regards. Otherwise, why bother making it? And the way it's very likely to be better is a mixture of the way the A15 is better than the A14, and of the way the M1 Pro is better than the M1:

• it'll probably have the Avalance and Blizzard cores. If they also increase the clock compared to the A15, like the M1 does compared to the A14, then we'll probably see a ~9% improvement in single-threaded performance.
• GPU performance went up 55% on the iPhone 13 Pro vs. iPhone 12 Pro, so we'll probably see that as well
• it may get LPDDR5 instead of 4X. If so, performance could go up even further, and also, Apple might change the RAM option from 8/16 to 16/32. They might not do that until the M3, though (any later seems silly to me).
• it may get some other features from the M1 Pro, such as support for more displays

 

[mjtomlin71]

Am I going to be buying new Macs every year like iPhones? Hopefully Apple will introduce an upgrade program.

A new iPhone every year!!!

I just recently bought a 12 mini after using my SE for 5 years! And last year was the first new Mac (M1 mini) I bought since 2009 (27" iMac - still used as a display for the new mini).

 

[ddtmm]

This will no doubt be a pretty fast and impressive processor but in my opinion they (and every other CPU designer) need to improve the per-core performance. Many more processes than one would think are still single-thread / single-core processes, often because the nature of what they do does not lend itself to multi-core benefits, thus do not benefit from multi-core configurations. I think improving that would be much more impressive and that copying and pasteing more cores into the die.

 

[chucker23n1]

Makes sense. I think that was the A*X iPad chip schedule. I wonder, with M1 in the iPad Pros, does that mean the that there won't be anymore A*X chips?

That would be my guess, yes. The M1 is arguably an A14X by any other name.

 

[VerizonLover]

I just hope they keep 4KB page table support, otherwise I'll be running *all* my Intel software in a Qemu VM.?

Currently holding onto my 2014 rMBP until the end.

Apple has really lost it's way. It's QA is below that of even 90s Apple.

 

[Adarna]

Makes sense. I think that was the A*X iPad chip schedule. I wonder, with M1 in the iPad Pros, does that mean the that there won't be anymore A*X chips?

Looks like that’s the case. I’m scheduled to replace my 2018 iPad Pro by 2024. So it may use a m3?

 

[cmaier]

I just hope they keep 4KB page table support, otherwise I'll be running *all* my Intel software in a Qemu VM.?

Currently holding onto my 2014 rMBP until the end.

Apple has really lost it's way. It's QA is below that of even 90s Apple.

Thanks for the giggles.

 

[FellaMeLad]

Dammit - I just bought this Macbook Air. It's now obsolete and worthless!

RIP dmr727's Macbook Air! ?

 

[fakestrawberryflavor]

Why would you buy a new iPhone every year?

I never have not bought a new iPhone each year since the 4. I’m not sure I could live with knowing I’m not using the best. I need to work on that ?

 

[Homme]

Makes sense. I think that was the A*X iPad chip schedule. I wonder, with M1 in the iPad Pros, does that mean the that there won't be anymore A*X chips?

No they’re won’t be any more X based chips and they sad this when the M1 iPad Pro was revealed that before M1 they had to rely on turbocharged versions of A series chips until that came along

 

[interessiert]

I expect it to be quite a while until we see this in Macs.
Pretty sure we’re going to see a very similar rollout as we have with the M1.
November 2020: M1 introduced in the low-end products.
April 2021: M1 expanded to more mid range products.
October 2021: M1pro and max introduced for higher end products.
First half of 2022: M1 brought to the highest end desktops.
I expect the same to happen with the M2 next year, introduced in the new colorful MacBook first, then a couple months later brought to the mid range, then throughout 2023 brought to the higher end products.
M3 as well, introduced in the lower end products in late 2023, spread to the rest throughout 2024.
So we still have a while

Probably as you assume...

Meanwhile I am happy with OpenCore and 12-core and another 6-core Mac Pro 5.1 till 2024 then ? (6-core often faster ? )

 

[NMBob]

If the past is any indication this will be called "The New M".

 

[DaveN]

I'm waiting for the negative nm sizes before I upgrade. /s

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Seems like Apple has kind of backed themselves into a corner with naming and upgrade timelines. Since the M1 Pro/Max were just announced, it is logical to assume that the new MacBook Air and Mac mini updates will be next. So does that mean they will have a standard M2 leaving the 14/16-inch MacBook Pro with the M1 Pro/Max? That is where I think that consumers will be confused because the M2 sounds better than the M1 Pro/Max.

I think the challenge here is that what is conceptually the most powerful Macs are still to be launched: Mac Pro or Pro Jr and/or Bigger iMac or iMac Pro. Conceptually, those will need something more than M1 PRO & MAX... and there's rumors for that: both in this more plausible DUO config (2 PROs or 2 MAXs fused together) or perhaps with M2 hitting WITH M2 PRO & MAX too.

Thoughts are generally on what is going into the next Air and next Mini with M2 and maybe M1 PRO (and possibly MAX) in play... but that still leaves iMac Bigger/Pro getting WHAT exactly... and presumably later Mac Pro/Jr. getting what exactly?

My own guesses are:

• Air gets M2, Mini may get it too and/or maybe M1 PRO or MAX
• iMac "bigger/PRO" gets M1 DUOs... OR M2 PRO & MAX are released WITH M2 and it gets those... OR it waits until Summer/Fall and gets M2 DUO
• Mac Pro/Jr gets M2 MAX DUO or maybe the also-rumored QUAD config.

There's been some rumors flying around about QUAD configs but apparently M1 is already set up for DUO but not QUAD, so DUO for M1 seems actually plausible. Apparently, QUAD would require significant design revisions, which might be a M2 or M3 thing.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I never have not bought a new iPhone each year since the 4. I’m not sure I could live with knowing I’m not using the best. I need to work on that ?

Or get yourself a raise because it appears the plan is to make M-series Macs follow the same path. What is getting "faster than Intel/AMD in every possible way" spin/posts now may be getting the old, "getting long in tooth" posts to (self) rationalize upgrades as soon as next year or so.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Dammit - I just bought this Macbook Air. It's now obsolete and worthless!

MacBook Air? Why? They are due for a major upgrade within 4 months or so.

 

[Frantisekj]

Nice!! It will blown our minds away

And you know... M69 powered iRobot will blow your.... as well.

ANd M69 Macbook Air will be so cool your hands will be freezing all the time...

 

[CWallace]

And M69 Macbook Air will be so cool your hands will be freezing all the time...

Alas, the M420 MacBook Air will bake...

 

[wigby]

Yeah and M5 will use -1nm process. Stop spreading BS before even the M2 is out...

It's not really BS. We already know the nomenclature. Each M series chip is going to be 1 nm smaller for the foreseeable future until they hit M5 at 1nm like you say. The timing might be off but I would expect that from most rumors anyway.

 

[dmr727]

MacBook Air? Why? They are due for a major upgrade within 4 months or so.

I bought it a few months ago and decided I didn't want to wait. It was already a relatively inexpensive purchase as I decided I didn't *really* need a 14" MBP.

 

[mjtomlin71]

It's not BS. 3nm and 2nm are coming in the next few years; after that, Intel has announced they're looking into a 1800pm node.



I think we're on a roughly 18-month cycle.

November 2020: M1 (A14's Firestorm/Icestorm cores)
October 2021: M1 Pro and Max (I'm ignoring April 2021, because it didn't really change anything about the SoC)
Spring 2022: M2 (A15's Avalanche/Blizzard cores)
Summer 2022: M1 Extreme
Spring 2023: M2 Pro and Max
Fall 2023: M3 (A17's cores; A16 gets skipped)

I expect the base M-series to eventually be upgraded every year just as the A-Series is. And then the higher end SoCs upgraded every other generation (as the AX was).

But I don't think that'll be the case during the transition. The M1 and M1X (Pro, Max, "Max Duo", "Max Quadro") will carry Macs through to the end of the transition (@WWDC22).

From now until WWDC...
Redesigned/Colorful MacBook Airs (M1)
Smaller mini (M1)
mini Pro (Pro, Max)
iMac 27" (Pro, Max)
iMac Pro ("Max Duo", "Max Quadro")
Mac Pro ("Max Duo", "Max Quadro")

Then in the Fall (2022), the M2 will debut in a new iPad Pro and new MacBooks (the 13" MacBook Pro will then be discontinued).

Then the following Fall (2023) the M3, followed by M3X variants over 2024.

 

[Ifti]

2022 - Upgrade my current S5 AW to S8.

2023 will be a major year for me.
Upgrade my current iPhone 13PM to the 15PM.
Upgrade my 2019 MBP 16" to a 16" M3......

Better start saving now! lol

 

[erikkfi]

This is very cool. It's hard to believe but in the early Intel days there were sometimes two upgrades per year for some product lines. There were two Mac Minis in 2006, for instance. When they went to Apple Silicon I'd really hoped to start getting back to at least annual upgrades but that hasn't really happened so far. Maybe after the shortages clear up?

 

[collin_]

Between TSMC’s 3N process and 2 years of Apple architectural improvements I have a feeling that the 2023 MacBook Pros are going to put even the 2021 models to shame.

 

[Realityck]

Yet we don’t even know that Apple will name these as M2, M3 at all? Just rumors.