Apple May Reveal Its First M3 Mac Models In October

Apple reportedly has a fresh slate of Mac computers with the upcoming M3 silicon inside ready for a fall launch. In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman predicts that two new MacBooks and a desktop computer with Apple's next-gen M3 processor might arrive in October 2023. 

Among them is a rumored chip refresh for the 13-inch MacBook Air and the 13-inch MacBook Pro, but the more interesting addition to Apple's Mac portfolio is an anticipated new iMac. However, it's unclear whether this may simply be a processor upgrade for the 24-inch M1-powered iMac that was launched in 2021 or if it will be a new machine altogether.

Apple is rumored to be working on a 27-inch iMac Pro, but there is no word on whether that machine is on the 2023 product roadmap. Recently, Bloomberg also reported on a larger 32-inch iMac allegedly in development, but once again, there's no clarity on a launch timeline. The company will likely stick to the same colorful aesthetics with sharp lines that we saw on the M1 iMac, considering the company's history of maintaining the same design language for at least a few generations. The same applies to the upcoming M3 laptops as well, especially the MacBook Air, which got a 15-inch makeover earlier this year.

Coming to the M3 silicon, it will reportedly bring some significant improvements in compute and graphics processing departments. It is rumored to be fabricated on TSMC's 3nm process node, which means it will offer significant processing and efficiency improvements over the 5nm-based M2 series processors. Exact core details about the standard M3 configuration aren't known, but Apple has reportedly been testing the more powerful M3 Pro version for a while now. The M3 Pro variant is said to pack 12 CPU cores — 6 performance cores and an equal number of efficiency cores — up from 10 CPU cores on the M2 Pro processor, and 8 CPU cores fitted on the M1 Pro silicon.

Similar upgrades are said to be in the pipeline for the graphics prowess. The M3 Pro will reportedly jump to 18 graphics cores, two more compared to the M2 Pro, and four additional GPU cores compared to the M1 Pro. It will make its way to pricier and more powerful Macs, but they are only expected to arrive in 2024. Apple upgraded the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro laptops with an upgraded M2-series silicon earlier this year in January 2023. In June, the company also revealed the updated Mac Studio and Mac Pro with powerful M2 Ultra silicon. So, any iterative upgrades to these four machines are safely a year away.