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Apple allegedly tests M3 Mac mini ahead of fall launches


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Apple is testing yet another Mac with an M3 chip, rumors allege, with the standard edition of the processor surfacing in what is guessed to be a future Mac mini update.

Apple is in the midst of the M2 generation, and has launched all four tiers of the chip. With a shift to the M3 generation anticipated for the fall, Apple is busy testing its upcoming product changes that use the next chip generation.

According to Mark Gurman's "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg on Sunday, Apple has apparently been seen testing out the base model of M3 chip.

Gurman writes that the chip is the same configuration as its M2 counterpart, consisting of four efficiency cores and four performance cores for the CPU as well as a ten-core GPU. The version caught being tested also apparently offers configurations of up to 24 gigabytes of memory.

It is reckoned that the specifications of the chip, and the timing, could be held inside a next-generation Mac mini. Gurman previously wrote on July 23 that an M3-equipped Mac mini and updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models probably won't ship in the fall, and that a 2024 launch was more plausible.

While the M3 will be fairly similar in configuration to the M2, the M3 Pro will apparently outpace its predecessor by having a 12-core CPU and 18 graphics cores. A high-end M3 Max is estimated to offer a 14-core CPU and over 40 graphics cores.

Aside from the Mac mini, Gurman believes that Apple's testing includes an M3 13-inch MacBook Pro, 15-inch MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Air, M3 iMac, and M3 Pro and M3 Max 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro models.