Apple M3 Pro 12-Core vs Apple M3 Max 16-Core
Aggregate performance score
M3 Max 16-Core outperforms M3 Pro 12-Core by an impressive 71% based on our aggregate benchmark results.
Contents
Primary details
Comparing processor market type (desktop or notebook), architecture, sales start time and price.
| Place in the ranking | 274 | 606 |
| Place by popularity | not in top-100 | not in top-100 |
| Market segment | Laptop | Laptop |
| Series | Apple M3 | Apple M3 |
| Designer | Apple | Apple |
| Release date | 30 October 2023 (2 years ago) | 30 October 2023 (2 years ago) |
Detailed specifications
M3 Max 16-Core and M3 Pro 12-Core basic parameters such as number of cores, number of threads, base frequency and turbo boost clock, lithography, cache size and multiplier lock state. These parameters indirectly say of CPU speed, though for more precise assessment you have to consider their test results.
| Physical cores | 16 (Hexadeca-Core) | 12 (Dodeca-Core) |
| Threads | 16 | 12 |
| Base clock speed | 2.748 GHz | 2.748 GHz |
| Boost clock speed | 4.06 GHz | 4.06 GHz |
| Chip lithography | 3 nm | 3 nm |
| Number of transistors | 92000 Million | 37000 Million |
| 64 bit support | + | + |
Graphics specifications
General parameters of integrated GPUs, if any.
| Integrated graphics card | Apple M3 Max 40-Core GPU | Apple M3 Pro 18-Core GPU |
Synthetic benchmarks
Various benchmark results of the processors in comparison. Overall score is measured in points in 0-100 range, higher is better.
Combined synthetic benchmark score
This is our combined benchmark performance rating.
Passmark
Passmark CPU Mark is a widespread benchmark, consisting of 8 different types of workload, including integer and floating point math, extended instructions, compression, encryption and physics calculation. There is also one separate single-threaded scenario measuring single-core performance. Other than that, Passmark measures multi-core performance.
Cinebench 15 64-bit multi-core
Cinebench Release 15 Multi Core is a variant of Cinebench R15 which uses all the processor threads.
Geekbench 5.5 Multi-Core
Geekbench 5.5 Single-Core
WebXPRT 3
CrossMark Overall
Geekbench 6.4 Multi-Core
Geekbench 6.4 Single-Core
Geekbench 6.3 Multi-Core
Geekbench 6.3 Single-Core
Pros & cons summary
| Performance score | 23.40 | 13.71 |
| Physical cores | 16 | 12 |
| Threads | 16 | 12 |
Apple M3 Max 16-Core has a 70.7% higher aggregate performance score, and 33.3% more physical cores and 33.3% more threads.
The Apple M3 Max 16-Core is our recommended choice as it beats the Apple M3 Pro 12-Core in performance tests.
Other comparisons
We've compiled a selection of CPU comparisons, ranging from closely matched processors to other comparisons that may be of interest.
