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Apple M3 vs Apple M2

67 out of 100
Apple M3
VS
57 out of 100
Apple M2
Apple M3
Apple M2

We compared two 8-core laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 against the 3.5 GHz Apple M2. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
NanoReview Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between M2 and M3
Advantages of Apple M3
  • More modern manufacturing process – 3 versus 5 nanometers
  • Newer - released 1 year and 5 months later
  • More powerful Apple M3 GPU integrated graphics: 3.5 vs 2.9 TFLOPS
  • 16% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3009 vs 2589 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Apple M3
vs
Apple M2

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Apple M3 +12%
140
Apple M2
125
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Apple M3 +22%
712
Apple M2
582
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 2341 -
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Apple M3 +16%
3009
Apple M2
2589
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Apple M3 +17%
11815
Apple M2
10122
File compression 1260 MB/sec 1130 MB/sec
Clang compilation 94.7 Klines/sec 80.4 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 264.5 pages/sec 235.3 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 313.9 Mpixels/sec 266.1 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 297 pages/sec 257.4 pages/sec
Background blur 50.2 images/sec 42.1 images/sec
Photo processing 114.8 images/sec 107 images/sec
Ray tracing 12.9 Mpixels/sec 10.5 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 438 & 465 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Apple M3 +21%
4707
Apple M2
3883
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Apple M3 +22%
19065
Apple M2
15651
Integer math 42.6 GOps/sec 37 GOps/sec
Floating point math 48.3 GOps/sec 37.5 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 231M Primes/sec 174M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 27.3M Strings/sec 23.7M Strings/sec
Data encryption 11.5 GBytes/sec 9.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression 225 MBytes/sec 185.8 MBytes/sec
Physics 1867 Frames/sec 1667 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 10B Matrices/sec 7.8B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 1563 & 4611 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Apple M3 +47%
160.35
Apple M2
109.19

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 35.6 PPW 32.3 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 590.8 PPW 562.3 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 953.3 PPW 869.5 PPW
Blender / Watt 8.02 PPW 6.07 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M3
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-22 (doannguyenmfs)GeekBench2991 / 11735
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-16 (darkknightSup)GeekBench2990 / 11498
Add View all (2)
Apple M2
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-03-14 (T)GeekBench2647 / 10245
πŸ“˜ 2026-01-05 (AR)GeekBench2655 / 10211
πŸ“˜ 2025-10-24 (Shivam)GeekBench2619 / 9900
Add View all (3)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 and Apple M2

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2023 June 6, 2022
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv8
Codename Apple M3 Apple M2
Integrated GPU Apple M3 GPU Apple M2 GPU
Successor - Apple M5 (10-Core) - Apple M5 (10-Core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 4
P-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 3.5 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz 2.4 GHz
Total
Total Cores 8 8
Total Threads 8 8
Multiplier 40x -
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 16MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 25 billions 20 billions
Fabrication Process 3 nm 5 nm
TDP (PL1) 20 W 18 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature 100Β°C -
Laptop processors ranking (69th and 133rd place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 GPU Apple M2 GPU
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1398 MHz
Shading Units 1280 1024
TMUs 80 64
ROPs 40 32
Execution Units 160 128
TGP 15 W 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
Apple M3 +21%
3.5 TFLOPS
Apple M2
2.9 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M2 GPU (8-core) compared to M3 GPU (10-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 24 GB 24 GB
Memory Channels 8 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version 4.0 4.0

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
991 (71.3%)
399 (28.7%)
Total votes: 1390

Competitors

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5. Apple M2 vs Intel Core i5 12500H (7)
6. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Pro (16)
7. Apple M3 vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (4)
8. Apple M3 vs Apple M1
9. Apple M3 vs Apple M2 Pro
10. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Max (4)
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M2 or Apple M3?
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