Apple M3 vs Apple M2 Pro (10-CPU 16-GPU)

In this CPU comparison we look at the Apple M3 and the Apple M2 Pro with 10 CPU cores and 16 iGPU cores.

Like its predecessors (Apple M1 and Apple M2), the Apple M3 again relies on 8 CPU cores, which are available in a hybrid core design. 4 fast P-cores are replaced by another 4 E-cores, which are smaller and slower but work more efficiently. The structure of the Apple M2 Pro with 10 CPU cores is quite similar.

It has 6 large P-cores which are also complemented by 4 economical E-cores. The clock frequency here is up to 3.5 GHz, the Apple M3 achieves a slightly higher clock frequency of 4.06 GHz. As is typical for Apple, both processors cannot be overclocked and can only process one thread per CPU core at the same time.

Both processors also have hardware-accelerated AI, which reaches 35 TOPS in the Apple M3. The Apple M2 Pro (10 CPU 16 GPU) also has 16 AI cores, but these can only calculate just under 16 TOPS. The processors' integrated graphics cards differ primarily in the number of execution units and texture shaders; the graphics frequency is identical at 1.4 GHz for both processors.

The iGPU of the Apple M3 has a theoretical computing power of 3.55 TFLOPS, that of the Apple M2 Pro even achieves 5.68 TFLOPS. This means that both graphics solutions are quite fast and would even be suitable for some computer games. However, macOS' game support is very limited, so you don't have a very large selection of computer games here.

Apple was able to further increase the efficiency of the newer Apple M3 compared to the Apple M2 Pro. Under full load, the Apple M3 achieved 474 points (10,437 Cinebench R23 multi-core points with a CPU package power of 22 watts). The Apple M2 Pro has 12,125 CB R23 points with 30 watts of CPU package power, which results in a score of 404.