Nilanjan
Apple Inc. has announced the third generation of its Mac processor line yesterday along with a new iMac and laptop. The US Company has also rolled out an M3 chip designed to deliver graphics horsepower and incredible performance.
The new chip line-up heavily borrows from advanced 3-nanometer manufacturing technology and can handle graphics processing more efficiently. In a presentation ceremony hosted yesterday, Apple revealed that the base model would come with eight major cores, the processing engines on a chip apart from 10 cores for graphics.
The announcement was made at an event for “Scary Fast”-branded product launch. The event was unusually timed and started off at 5 p.m. California time.
New MacBook Pro models were also launched at the event. These models will run on new processors. With battery life of 22 long hours, the MacBook is designed to deliver power-packed performance. Apple claimed that the company made a debut launch of a version of its 24-inch all-in-one iMac running on the M3.
Apple’s in-house semiconductor business – also known as Apple Silicon – is considered a prized asset. In 2020, Apple switched to its home-grown chips from Intel Corp. components and since then, the sale of Mac computers has always been on a sharp rise, accelerated by a broader run-up in spending for technology during COVID-19.
In recent quarters, Apple has seen its revenue sliding and intense competition could be a reason for that. The M3 launch is intended to help Apple gain back its advantage in the industry and put the Mac business back on the profitable track.
Mac sales are projected to reach nearly 5% in the holiday quarter. Their revenue is growing at the rate of 5.5% in the fiscal year that started this month, as per the Bloomberg-compiled data.
The switch to M3 marks an important move to the 3-nanometer technology by Apple or any high-volume computer manufacturing brand. The 3-nanometer processor squeezes in more high-end technology into a tight space. These specially designed chips are meant to boost performance while still preserving battery life.
The company introduced Pro and Max versions – two other tiers of M3 – aimed at higher-performing machines. The central processing unit of M3 Pro chip has 12 cores along with 18 for graphics. On the other hand, M3 Max has 16 main cores along with 40 graphics cores and hence, it is 80% faster than the 2021 MI chip.
Apple’s announcement is a harbinger to more ground-breaking, new-age launches from other big names in the computer manufacturing industry. The last week, Intel, the former partner of Apple, gave a positive forecast that Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Nvidia Corp. are working on more powerful processors based on technology from Arm Holdings Plc. The announcement has already made a positive impact in the share market.
Meanwhile, Quantum Inc. has introduced a new processor last week, claiming that it would beat Apple’s M2 in speed and overall performance.
