Apple working on 3nm M3 chip for next MacBook Air and iMac

3 years ago 1

ARTICLE AD BOX

Apple’s next MacBook Air and iMacs could feature an M3 chip built using the 3-nanometer fabrication process, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports.

The Cupertino-based tech company uses the 5nm fabrication process to build its M2 chips. However, according to the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the 3nm process could be a game-changer.

TSMC says the 3nm fabrication process can increase speed by up to 15% and reduce power consumption by 30% over chips built using the 5nm process.

It’s unclear when the new M3 MacBook Air and iMacs will launch, but Gurman believes we will see the M3 chip in late 2023 or early next year.

He expects the new in-house chip to launch with a 13-inch MacBook Air, 15-inch MacBook Air, and a new iMac.

However, the new chips could appear in other devices too. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple could launch another round of MacBook Pro models — this time packing M3 Pro and M3 Max chip variations.

Kuo says the new MacBook Pros could launch as early as the first half of 2024.

The Cupertino-based tech company recently upgraded its 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with its M2 chips, which are built using the 5nm fabrication process.

The new laptops’ design remained unchanged. However, Apple improved several aspects of the laptops’ performance.

The more-powerful M2 Pro and M2 Max chips replaced the M1 Pro and M1 Max units featured in the previous generation, and Apple says the laptops are configurable with up to 96GB of RAM.

It should be noted that South African pre-orders indicate that the highest RAM allocation available in the country is 32GB.

Battery life has also been slightly improved, going to 18 hours from 17 hours on the 14-inch model and up to 22 hours from 21 hours on the 16-inch variation.