First Benchmark Results Surface for M3 Chip in New Macs - MacRumors
Skip to Content

First Benchmark Results Surface for M3 Chip in New Macs

The first benchmark results for the standard M3 chip surfaced in the Geekbench 6 database today, providing a closer look at the chip's CPU performance improvements.

M3 Chip Apple Event Slide
Based on the results so far, the M3 chip has single-core and multi-core scores of around 3,000 and 11,700, respectively. The standard M2 chip has single-core and multi-core scores of around 2,600 and 9,700, respectively, so the M3 chip is up to 20% faster than the M2 chip, as Apple claimed during its "Scary Fast" event on Monday.

Geekbench 6 multi-core scores:

  • M3 chip: ~11,700 (+20% vs. M2 chip)
  • M2 chip: ~9,700 (+17% vs. M1 chip)
  • M1 chip: ~8,315

It's unclear if the results are for the new 14-inch MacBook Pro or iMac, both of which are available with the standard M3 chip, but performance should be similar for both machines. The results have a "Mac15,3" identifier, which Bloomberg's Mark Gurman previously reported was for a laptop with the same display resolution as a 14-inch MacBook Pro.

The standard M3 chip is equipped with an 8-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU, and it supports up to 24GB of unified memory. The chip has improved GPU architecture with support for hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, which will make high-end games look more realistic. It also has a 16-core Neural Engine for AI.

M3 Chip Performance
We have yet to see any Geekbench results for the higher-end M3 Pro and M3 Max chips available in most new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.

Popular Stories

iOS 27 on iPhone 17 1

iOS 27 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Saturday May 2, 2026 8:43 am PDT by
Apple is expected to unveil iOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8, and there are already many rumored features and changes for iPhones. The first developer beta of iOS 27 will likely be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. Following beta testing, the software update should be released to all users with a compatible iPhone in...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

Why You Might Want to Wait to Buy a MacBook Pro

Friday May 1, 2026 3:43 pm PDT by
Apple refreshed the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro and M5 Max models in March 2026, but depending on your needs and interests, you might want to skip this generation because there's something better in the works. The M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models have faster chips, but the same design that Apple has used since 2021. An updated design with new display technology and faster ...
macOS 27 on MacBook Pro

Apple to Unveil macOS 27 Next Month With These New Features

Friday May 1, 2026 1:21 pm PDT by
Apple will unveil its latest software platforms during its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, June 8, and one of them will be macOS 27 for the Mac. The first developer beta of macOS 27 will likely be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. Following beta testing, the software update should be released to all users in September. macOS 26 is known ...

Top Rated Comments

dugbug Avatar
33 months ago

Kinda pointless comparing performance 13 years apart.
I'm pretty sure that your 2010 Mac Pro has a much larger performance gap compared to a 1997 PowerMac.
you take the joy out of life
Score: 60 Votes (Like | Disagree)
eicca Avatar
33 months ago
So the base M3 is six times faster in single core and four times faster in multi core than my current Mac Pro, while consuming a tenth or less of the electricity.

That’s really amazing.

Drop an M3 Mac Mini and I’m all over it.
Score: 53 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Spock Avatar
33 months ago

My iPhone 15 Pro Max does 2900 or something in single core. That is quite interesting.
Its almost like they are the same architecture...
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Apple Fan 2008 Avatar
33 months ago
The feature I'm most excited for on the M3 Chips is Ray-Tracing.
Score: 26 Votes (Like | Disagree)
XboxEvolved Avatar
33 months ago
Just for reference this is only slightly slower in single core performance than the most powerful Intel chip, slightly more powerful than the most speced out intel Mac Pro from late 2019 in both single and multi core, and going by this, the Pro and Max will definitely be more powerful than say, another ARM based chip that is coming out in the middle of next year.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
33 months ago
M1 - 3.2 GHz
M2 - 3.66 GHz
M3 - 4.00 GHz
Score: 20 Votes (Like | Disagree)