Apple intends to release more 3nm chipsets after the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max, with the next version being the company’s most powerful, the M3 Ultra. Though a previous report stated that the desktop-based Apple Silicon has not gone into broader testing, it could feature up to an 80-core GPU, the highest number the technology giant has ever used for its custom chipsets. Unfortunately, compared to the M2 Ultra, the GPU cores difference is not that much.

Top-end M2 Ultra features a 76-core GPU; M3 Ultra may be a disappointing launch if the 80-core version is the fully unlocked variant

The M3 Max can be maxed out with a 16-core and a 40-core for a $500 premium, and the M3 Ultra sporting an 80-core GPU means that it will have twice as many cores as Apple’s most powerful 3nm SoC to date. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, in the latest ‘Power On’ newsletter, the reporter talks about the M3 Ultra’s potential configuration, stating that we could see a 32-core CPU option alongside the 80-core GPU and 256GB of unified RAM.

“That has implications for the M3 Ultra, which Apple hasn’t announced yet. If the company continues to double both the CPU and graphics configurations with the Ultra, we’re looking at a Mac chip that tops out at an outrageous 32 CPU cores and 80 graphics cores. And as Apple steps up the memory, you could imagine an option with 256 gigabytes.”

The impressive thing about the M3 Ultra in this report is that Apple will have added more CPU cores than the M2 Ultra, but when it comes to the GPU cores, the difference is not that pronounced. Gurman has not elaborated as to why Apple would only stop at an 80-core GPU, but looking at the capabilities of the M3 Max, there might be little reason to stuff additional cores.

For one thing, the 16-core GPU version of the M3 Max beats the M2 Ultrain Geekbench 6’s multi-core, with its GPU being just marginally slower than a laptop RTX 4080 in GFXBench. Using Apple’s ‘UltraFusion’ process of combining two M3 Max dies to form a single M3 Ultra, we could see incredible performance gains without adding an unnecessary number of GPU cores.

Sadly, since the new Apple Silicon has not gone into broader testing, we cannot comment on the performance of an unreleased SoC and have to treat this report with a pinch of salt, at least for now. Hopefully, we will hear some positive news surrounding the M3 Ultra next year when it is being developed for updated Mac Studio and Mac Pro models.