Apple is trying to guarantee enough M3 chips for the next year

By Alan Truly Published August 9, 2023

Getty Images / Getty Images

We already heard Apple secured the lion’s share of chipmaker TSMC’s 3nm chip manufacturing capacity. The latest rumor suggests the order has expanded to claim TSMC’s entire supply for the next 12 months.

According to a report from the Economic Daily News, Apple’s processor orders will occupy the full capacity of TSMC’s 3nm manufacturing capabilities. That is a significant win for the Mac and iPhone maker since TSMC’s 3nm node is more advanced than Samsung’s.

Apple’s next-generation Mac computers should feature high-performance, yet efficient M3 processors based on N3 (3nm node). The iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max will boast A17 Bionic chips of this type as well.

Every reduction in manufacturing size brings performance gains while using less power. The difference will be most noticeable for new Mac computers since the M2-series chips use TSMC’s N5P (performance-enhanced 5nm node) design. The iPhone 14 Pro featured a TSMC N4 design, the A16 Bionic.

TSMC’s 3nm chip design will be faster and more efficient than any other consumer technology. Apple will be the first to use these processors in products launching later this year. If the rumor is correct, Apple could also have exclusive access for the next 12 months.

This report might help allay fears that Apple could face chip shortages in 2024. The tech giant has such a robust supply chain that it sustained high production levels through most of the pandemic chip shortages.

Given the potential for significant speed gains and extended battery life, Apple’s fall event should be more interesting than ever, with powerful new Macs and iPhones. A new iMac, 13-inch MacBook Air, and 13-inch MacBook Pro are expected.

This allocation could come with price increases, though. As analyst Ming-Chi Kuo points out, Apple will be purchasing TSMC’s latest finished node. The company, according to the analyst, loops the price of defective chips into the cost of finished wafers, causing the price of new processors to steadily go up. The analyst predicts this year’s A17 (and likely the M3) will continue this trend.

Topics

Computing Writer

Alan is a Computing Writer living in Nova Scotia, Canada. A tech-enthusiast since his youth, Alan stays current on what is…

Computing

Here’s how the M3 Max chip compares to the most powerful Windows laptops

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max chip seen from behind.

Apple's M3 Max is an incredibly powerful chip, significantly increasing Apple Silicon's CPU and GPU performance. It's gotten a ton of press, but is it necessarily faster than the fastest Windows laptops?

To find out, we pitted it against the Lenovo Legion 9i, a gaming laptop equipped with the ultrafast Intel Core i9-13980HX and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, and the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 with the AMD Ryzen 9 7945HX and the RTX 4090. We can't compare the MacBook Pro 14 with the M3 Max directly to the Lenovo and Asus in that many benchmarks, particularly gaming, due to limits in testing and cross-platform compatibility. But we could compare enough to get an idea of how these various chips stack up against each other.
A brief look at architectures
The Apple M3 Max is an ARM-based system on a chip (SoC) currently at the high end of Apple Silicon's lineup. It represents the first chips made using a 3nm process and redesigned GPU architecture. On the CPU side, Apple increased the speed of its performance cores by 15% and its efficiency cores by 30% over the M2. Overall, Apple is promising a 20% to 25% improvement in performance. On the GPU side, Dynamic Caching is one technology that speeds up a variety of GPU processes, while gamers will benefit from mesh shading and hardware-accelerated ray tracing.

Computing

These are the best games to play on your new M3 Mac

Lies of P being played on an iMac.

It’s an exciting time to be a Mac gamer. The latest MacBooks are genuine gaming machines thanks to the addition of ray tracing, mesh shading, and some impressive GPU performance. Even more, Apple is courting more developers to port their games to Apple’s computers with features like Game Mode and the Game Porting Toolkit.

In short, Mac gaming has never been in a better place. If you’ve bought a new Mac loaded with a chip from the M3 family, you might want to test out its power with a few demanding games to see what it can do. There’s no need to stick to mild indie games that won’t cause your Mac to break a sweat -- we’re talking AAA titles that will run natively on Apple hardware. And, of course, you can always use an app like CrossOver to run any Windows games you can imagine. But here are the best games that run natively on an M3 Mac to try out, ranging from incredibly deep fantasy RPGs to exhilarating battle royales.
Baldur's Gate 3

Computing

Here’s why people are raising concerns about the M3 Pro MacBook Pro

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max chip seen from behind.

I published my review of the M3 Max MacBook Pro earlier this week, and suffice it to say, I was pretty impressed. I'm fond of the Space Black color, and the GPU performance in particular blew me away.

But one configuration of the new MacBook Pro went a bit more under the radar -- the M3 Pro model. Apple wasn't keen on sending this exact unit out to reviewers, instead leading with its much stronger foot, the M3 Max. And while the M3 Max and Pro were a bit closer in performance in the M2 generation, this time around, it seems as if there's more of a disparity.