Here Are All the M3 Macs Still Expected This Year

Apple in March 2024 announced new 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models, the first Mac updates of the year featuring M3 series chips. But there are other Macs in Apple's lineup still to be updated to the latest M3 processors.

M3 Mac Pro Studio Mini Feature 2
So, where do the Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro fit into Apple's M3 roadmap for the year ahead? Here's what the latest rumors say.

Mac Mini

Apple announced ‌M2‌ and ‌M2‌ Pro Mac mini models in January 2023, which at the time of writing is over 400 days ago.

M3 Mac Mini Feature
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said in July that he believes a new Mac mini won't emerge until late 2024 at the earliest, and we haven't heard any other rumors that move the dial since then. On the other hand, Apple may choose not to upgrade the Mac mini this year and skip the M3 entirely. Approximately 26 months passed between the launch of the M1 Mac mini and the update to the M2 Mac mini​​. Going forward, perhaps the company has an 18-month upgrade cycle in mind, which would mean we could see an M4 Mac mini in the spring of 2025.

Mac Studio

Apple updated the ‌Mac Studio with ‌M2‌ series chips in June 2023. ‌Mac Studio‌ models come with either the ‌M2‌ Max or ‌M2‌ Ultra chip, so logic would suggest we should expect equivalent M3 variants.

M3 Mac Studio Feature 1
However, according to a January report by Taiwanese research firm TrendForce, a new Mac Studio model will launch in mid-2024 with a more powerful M3 Ultra chip than we might otherwise expect.

According to the report, the M3 Ultra chip will be fabricated with TSMC's N3E node, just like the A18 chip that is expected to debut in the iPhone 16 lineup later this year. This means it would be Apple's first N3E chip. N3E is an enhanced version of TSMC's 3nm process, offering slightly better performance and higher production yield.

A couple of days after the TrendForce report, Gurman said he believes Apple is working on a new Mac Studio that is likely to be offered with the as-yet-unannounced fourth variant of the M3 chip. This will, like previous generations, double the components of the "Max" version, meaning that it will feature up to 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores. Gurman says that it is likely to launch in the second half of 2024.

Mac Pro

Along with the Mac Studio, Apple updated the Mac Pro with ‌M2‌ series chips during WWDC in June 2023. The ‌Mac Pro‌ is only available in a single chip configuration, and currently ships with the ‌M2‌ Ultra chip that's used in the Mac Studio.

M3 Mac Pro Feature 1
Logically then, we should expect the next ‌Mac Pro‌ to receive an update to add the same M3 Ultra chip alongside the ‌Mac Studio‌, just like it received the ‌M2‌ Ultra chip last year. Like previous generations, this will likely double the components of the "Max" version, meaning that it will feature up to 32 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores.

Indeed, Gurman thinks Apple is likely to refresh the Mac Pro with this new high-end chip in the second half of the year. Notably, he does not believe that Apple is likely to again abandon the machine after only one year.

MacBook Pro – Already Updated

Apple in November 2023 updated its MacBook Pro lineup with M3 and M3 Pro chips, so the company's work is already done in that regard.

New MacBook Pros Launching Tomorrow With These 4 New Features 2
Apple has so far adopted an 18-month cycle of M1 to M2, and M2 to M3, so it would be reasonable to assume a 2025 launch for M4 MacBook Pro models if Apple sticks with the same tempo. Incidentally, such a roadmap tallies with rumors of the first MacBook Pro with an OLED display and possibly even a touchscreen.

Tag: M3

Popular Stories

iOS 18

Apple Says iOS 18.4 Will Be Released in April With These New Features

Wednesday February 26, 2025 7:15 am PST by
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 18.4 will be released in April. From the Apple News+ Food announcement:Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the...
Generic iPhone 17 Feature With Full Width Dynamic Island

Latest iPhone 17 Series CAD Images in Line With Redesign Rumors

Friday February 28, 2025 2:51 am PST by
Apple is expected to embrace a new camera system design for some models in its upcoming iPhone 17 series, and the latest purported CAD images don't deviate from what we have been hearing lately about Apple's new lineup. If you do not like the sound of an iPhone with a Google Pixel-style camera bar, look away now. Seasoned leaker Sonny Dickson shared the following images in a post on X...
iphone 16e usb c feature

Apple Provides Reason for iPhone 16e's Lack of MagSafe

Friday February 28, 2025 4:39 am PST by
Apple has offered a reason why the iPhone 16e doesn't include MagSafe, one of the more notable omissions from its latest entry-level smartphone. According to Apple representatives who spoke to Daring Fireball's John Gruber, MagSafe is not included in the iPhone 16e because "most people in the iPhone 16e's target audience exclusively charge their phones by plugging them into a charging...
apple intelligence black

These New Apple Intelligence Features Are Coming in iOS 18.4

Friday February 28, 2025 3:17 pm PST by
iOS 18.4 was supposed to bring new Apple Intelligence Siri features, but Apple ended up needing to pull those capabilities from the update to continue testing. There are fewer new Apple Intelligence additions now, but there are still some new features that will make the update worth installing when it comes out in April. Priority Notifications Apple introduced Priority Notifications back at ...
Generic iOS 19 Feature Mock Light

iOS 19 Rumored to Include These New Features for Your iPhone

Saturday March 1, 2025 11:00 am PST by
iOS 19 is still around three months away from being unveiled, but there are plenty of rumors about the upcoming update. Below, we recap iOS 19 rumors so far. Redesigned Camera App A leak earlier this year allegedly revealed a redesigned Camera app coming with iOS 19. On his YouTube channel Front Page Tech in January, Jon Prosser shared a video showing what the new Camera app will...
cook trump

Trump Responds to Apple Keeping Diversity Policies

Wednesday February 26, 2025 6:32 am PST by
In an all-caps post on Truth Social today, U.S. President Donald Trump said Apple should fully end its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies. Tim Cook meeting with President Trump in 2017 "APPLE SHOULD GET RID OF DEI RULES, NOT JUST MAKE ADJUSTMENTS TO THEM," he wrote. Trump's post comes one day after Apple held its annual shareholders meeting, during which a majority of...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
airpods pro purple

Here's When AirPods Pro 3 Are Rumored to Launch

Monday February 24, 2025 9:14 am PST by
According to a post on X today from a leaker known as Kosutami, Apple plans to launch AirPods Pro 3 in May or June this year. The leaker also claimed that an AirTag 2 will launch around the same time. Kosutami is best known as a collector of prototype Apple hardware, but they have occasionally shared accurate information about Apple's future product plans. For example, they accurately...
apple c1

How Fast is Apple's First-Ever 5G Modem? The Results Are Surprising

Friday February 28, 2025 10:08 am PST by
iPhone 16e reviews are now out, and Apple's custom-designed C1 modem has been put to the test. The results so far are quite surprising, as the C1's speeds are not as slow compared to Qualcomm modems as originally expected. While the C1 does not support ultra-fast mmWave 5G in the U.S., it appears to offer comparable 5G performance to Qualcomm's Snapdragon X71 modem found in the iPhone 16,...

Top Rated Comments

coffeemilktea Avatar
13 months ago

Indeed, Gurman thinks Apple is likely to refresh the Mac Pro with this new high-end chip in the second half of the year ('https://www.macrumors.com/2024/01/07/apple-working-on-new-mac-studio-and-mac-pro/'). Notably, he does not believe that Apple is likely to again abandon the machine after only one year.
As someone who mostly uses an iMac, I sometimes feel bad about how little attention the iMac seemingly gets from Apple.

...and then I remember how the Mac Pro got only two updates in the past 10 years (once in 2019, and then again in 2023) and suddenly being an iMac user doesn't seem so terrible by comparison. ?
Score: 27 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nutmac Avatar
13 months ago
I hope Mac Pro gets more meaningful update than just a spec bump. To that end:

* Allow GPU over PCIe
* More than 2 SSD module slots
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Mac Fly (film) Avatar
13 months ago
I just wished they'd bring back SD Card to the MacBook Air form factor.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
McWetty Avatar
13 months ago
I just don’t understand why the Mac Pro exists. The Mac Studio Ultra seems the smart play. Unless they stop putting the Ultra in the Studio and made better expandability options. That would make sense.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
13 months ago

Skipping the M3 chip for the Mac mini until the M4 chip is available would make sense since the Mac mini is (reportedly ('https://9to5mac.com/2023/01/09/apples-most-popular-mac/')) the least popular Mac model.


While the Mac mini likely does sell low volumes, there is no way those numbers are accurate. I don’t for a second believe the Mac Pro outsells the Mac mini and Mac Studio 11:1 in terms of units sold.


I’m not sure I believe those statistics. The MacBook Air has routinely been the best selling notebook every year.
Yes but it was one (or two) MacBook Air form factor vs multiple MacBook Pro form factors.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jouster Avatar
13 months ago
I know a couple of potential Mac Pro buyers still holding on to a faint hope for some sort of M3 Extreme--the mythical 2 x Ultra.

Alas, I think all their finger-crossing will be in vain.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)