Last week, Bloomberg’s tech journalist Mark Gurman, who has a long history of reporting accurate information about Apple’s upcoming products and services, dug into the specifics of the latest Mac Mini, which is powered by the third generation of Apple Silicon chipset – M3.
He said the base model M3 that is powering the soon-to-be-released 13in and 15in Macbook Air, 13in Macbook Pro, iMac, and the Mac Mini, will have 8 CPU cores – made up of four efficiency cores and four performance cores, 10 GPU cores, and a 24GB RAM.
Apple insiders told Gurman that the Mac Mini, which is under its final testing leg at the Apple Campus, was running the new macOS Sonoma 14 that will be preloaded on the device. The entry-level M3 will have specs comparable to the previous generation’s M2 Macs.
M3 Max and Pro Macs Said to be Twice as Powerful as Their M2 Counterparts
But that’s not all. The tech reporter also gave a glimpse of what to expect from Apple’s high-end Mac machines, the M3 Max and M3 Pro Macbooks. According to test logs provided by third-party Mac app developers, it is believed the M3 Max that was being tested had 16 CPU cores divided into 4 high-efficiency cores and 16 high-performance cores, 40 GPU cores, and 48GB of memory.
Comparably, M2 Max, which powered last year’s high-end Macbook Pros, had 8 high-performance cores, a 30 or 38 GPU core, and RAM options of 32, 64, or 96GB.
This means the 48GB mark on M3 Max will just be a starting point as Macs powered by the chipset will be available with additional options of 96 or 144GB of RAM to choose from. Apple is rumored to be widening the memory capacity in its machines by 50% so that it could achieve a much higher memory bandwidth, or implement a much denser RAM. The machines are said to maintain the same battery performance as last year’s models.
If rumors are true, then M3 Ultra, the ultimate power-hungry and performance-oriented Apple Silicon, would be two M3 Max chips fused together that will be exclusive for the desktops Mac Studio and Mac Pro.
Apple is testing all variations of the M3 Silicon in different Macs, starting with the base M3 Macbook Air all the way up to the M3 Max in the Macbook Pros. Unofficial reports suggest that Cupertino will release some of the products, like the baseline M3 Macs, in October.
Followed by the M3 Pro and M3 Max product line in Spring 2024, and finally the M3 Ultra-powered Mac Studio and Mac Pro in the summer of 2024.
Apple Struggling to Make Sales and Looks at a Steady Decline in Revenues
However, the Silicon Valley giant’s computer division is struggling to generate profits. At its latest earnings call, Apple said it anticipates Mac revenues to decline by a double-digit percentage in the fourth quarter of this year. But tech and market analysts expect the launch of the latest Macs to be a big boost for the trillion-dollar company.
Last week, Apple lost its record-setting $3 trillion valuation and is currently worth $2.82 trillion.
Meanwhile, iPhone sales have also been below par with the company blaming currency headwinds for hurting its profits. Apple says rising inflation has resulted in U.S. shoppers spending less money on its products. CEO Tim Cook also highlighted the fact that U.S. revenues this year paled in comparison to China, Apple’s second-largest market.
However, the tech giant expects iPhone sales to improve this quarter, faring better than the 2.4% decline it experienced in Q2 2023. But the company warned that its overall revenue is likely to remain in the same range as the previous quarter. As things stand, Apple is poised to suffer its fourth straight quarterly sales decrease for the first time since 2001.
Cupertino is expected to release the iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models on September 12 or 13. The devices will go on sale around September 22, giving the company about a week of iPhone 15 sales in the fourth quarter.
Developers Show a Lack of Interest In Creating Programs For Vision Pro Headsets
Apple Vision Pro, the company’s augmented and virtual reality headset is off to a sluggish start, as revealed by stats from its test phase. Insider information claims that early developers are less interested in creating apps for the device mainly due to its extraordinary price level, which makes it a tough sell compared to other Apple products.
Apple has launched developers labs for the Vision Pro at its Campus that will allow software creators to come and try out their code directly on the hardware instead of X-Code, a Mac-based simulator that is normally used for developing programs for the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Mac.
Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) shares are currently trading at $179.80, up 0.53% since yesterday.
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