Apple’s recent “Scary Fast” event introduced the world to the new M3 chip series, which includes the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips. Apple made some bold performance claims, and now, preliminary M3 benchmark tests are beginning to validate those assertions. These benchmarks provide an early glimpse into the M3’s capabilities, adding to the anticipation as customers await the arrival of their devices next week.
Apple’s claims about the entry-level M3 chip are indeed impressive. It features an 8-core CPU that boasts a 35% improvement in performance compared to the M1 chip and a 20% boost over the M2. Additionally, its 10-core GPU is no slouch, offering up to 65% more speed than the M1 and approximately 20% faster performance than the M2.

Benchmark Results Surface for M3 from Geekbench
Recent M3 benchmark results from Geekbench database align with Apple’s assertions. For instance, a Mac equipped with an Apple M3 processor achieved a single-core performance score of 3,030 and an impressive multi-core score of 11,694.
These figures clearly demonstrate that the M3 chip outperforms its predecessors by a significant margin. To put this in perspective, consider an M1 iMac, which achieved scores of 2,334 for single-core performance and 8,317 for multi-core performance.
Moreover, a Mac mini featuring an eight-core CPU scored 2,631 in single-core performance and 9,742 in multi-core performance.
While benchmark scores may not always perfectly mirror real-world performance, they serve as valuable indicators. In this case, they substantiate Apple‘s claims of substantial performance enhancements with the M3 chip series.
As the M3-equipped devices reach the hands of users, it will be interesting to see how these performance gains translate into tangible benefits during everyday tasks and activities. Apple’s focus on delivering a faster and more efficient computing experience appears to be off to a promising start with the M3 chips, and users can look forward to putting these impressive capabilities to the test in the near future.