Apple M2 Max (12C30G) vs Apple M3 (8C9G-FL) Full Specs

Summary

12 Cores(8P+4E) 12 Threads(8P+4E) 3.69GHz	8 Cores(4P+4E) 8 Threads(4P+4E) 4.05GHz
TDP 140W	TDP 15W
Bandwidth 409.6GB/s LPDDR5	Bandwidth 102.4GB/s LPDDR5
iGPU 30-Core M2 Max	iGPU 9-Core M3-FL
Peak·FP32·FP16 10.74 TFLOPSFP16	Peak·FP32·FP16 3.08 TFLOPSFP16

Highlights

Geekbench 6 Single

Geekbench 6 Single Geekbench 6 Multi Max Bandwidth iGPU Peak iGPU FP32 iGPU FP16 NPU TOPS TDP

M2 Max (12C30G)2,825

x1

M3 (8C9G-FL)3,130

x1.11

Show Top Score

Core Config

12 Cores 8P 4E	8 Cores 4P 4E
12 Threads 8P 4E	8 Threads 4P 4E

Clocks

Base Clock 3.69GHz	Base Clock 4.05GHz
Overclocking Locked	Overclocking Locked

Cache

L1i 192KB P 128KB E	L1i 192KB P 128KB E
L1d 128KB P 64KB E	L1d 128KB P 64KB E
L2 24MB P shared 4MB E shared	L2 16MB P shared 4MB E shared
SLC Cache 48MB	SLC Cache 8MB

Memory

Type LPDDR5	Type LPDDR5
Max Memory 64GB	Max Memory 24GB
ECC No	ECC No
Channels 4	Channels 2
Bus Width 512-bit	Bus Width 128-bit
Speed 6400MT/s	Speed 6400MT/s
Bandwidth 409.6GB/s	Bandwidth 102.4GB/s
Bandwidth Calculator Channels Transfer Rate6400MT/s Calculated Bandwidth 409.6GB/s	Bandwidth Calculator Channels Transfer Rate6400MT/s Calculated Bandwidth 102.4GB/s

Power & Thermals

TDP 140W	TDP 15W
Max Operating Temp 100°C Max	Max Operating Temp 100°C Max

Expansion

PCIe PCIe 4.0 x16 31.5GB/sBandwidth

PCIe PCIe 4.0 x6 11.8GB/sBandwidth

iGPU

iGPU 30-Core M2 Max	iGPU 9-Core M3-FL
Shaders 3840	Shaders 1152
Boost Clock 1.4GHz	Boost Clock 1.34GHz
Peak·FP32·FP16 10.74 TFLOPSFP16	Peak·FP32·FP16 3.08 TFLOPSFP16

NPU

NPU Model H14 Selene	NPU Model H15 Themis
NPU Cores 16	NPU Cores 16
NPU Clock 2.1GHz	NPU Clock 2.36GHz
Performance 15.8 TOPSFP16	Performance 18 TOPSFP16

Chip

Manufacturer Apple	Manufacturer Apple
ISA AArch64	ISA AArch64
Architecture Apple Silicon 11ARMv8.5-A	Architecture Apple Silicon 13ARMv8.6-A
Family M Series	Family M Series
Branding	Branding
Codename Rhodes-1C M2 MaxVariant AvalancheP-Core BlizzardE-Core	Codename Ibiza M3Variant EverestP-Core Sawtooth E-Core
Market Segment Desktop	Market Segment Tablet
Release Date Jan 17, 2023	Release Date Mar 4, 2025

Fabrication

Foundry TSMC	Foundry TSMC
Fabrication Node N5P	Fabrication Node N3B
Die Size 486mm²	Die Size 153mm²
Transistor Count 67 Billion	Transistor Count 25 Billion
Transistor Density 138 MTr/mm²	Transistor Density 164 MTr/mm²

Images

No images available

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Used In

Laptops MacBook Pro 14(M2 Max, Early 2023)MacBook Pro 16(M2 Max, Early 2023)	Laptops -
Desktops Mac Studio(M2 Max, Mid 2023)	Desktops -
Tablets -	Tablets iPad Air 11" Gen 2(M3, Early 2025)iPad Air 13" Gen 2(M3, Early 2025)

Competitors

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AppleM3 (8C9G-FL) vs CPU AppleM4 (10C8G-FL) AppleM3 (8C9G-FL) vs CPU AppleM4 (8C9G-FL) AppleM3 (8C9G-FL) vs CPU AppleM5 (10C10G) Show 12 more