Apple Silicon has come a long way, and the company has introduced various versions of its M-series of chips to power Macs and iPads. Last year, the company introduced its latest M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips in the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models that feature advanced computational and graphical performance over the M2 series of chips. According to the latest, it appears that the M3 Max is a standalone chip made of a single die instead of two dies combined, which could have a bigger impact on the performance of the upcoming M3 Ultra chip.
The M3 Ultra chip could be a standalone chip, similar to the M3 Max chip, which no longer features the UltraFusion interconnect
The theory came to life when Vadim Yuryev from the YouTube channel Max Tech cited a post from @techanalye1, highlighting that the M3 Max chip does not feature an UltraFusion interconnect. He went on to state that the unreleased M3 Ultra chip will not be made of two M3 Max chips in a single package. If this is true, the M3 Ultra chip will be a standalone chip instead of two M3 Max chips combined through UltraFusion interconnect.
Apple has not used a similar technology in the past, and once it does, the M3 Ultra chip could be built as a standalone chip. If this is true, Apple's switch to a single die could enable various customization to the chip, including an all-performance core design instead of a combination of performance and efficiency cores. Moreover, it could also feature additional GPU cores for even better graphical performance. This also means that the company could ditch all efficiency cores on future Macs, and in comparison to the M2 Ultra chip, the performance gap will be even bigger due to no efficiency losses over the UltraFusion interconnect.
Other than this, Yuryev also anticipated that the M3 Ultra chip could come with its own UltraFusion interconnect, which would allow it to deliver double the performance. The company could use the approach for its rumored M3 Extreme chip, which is yet to see daylight. In comparison, two M3 Ultra chips with UltraFusion interconnect could feature better performance than four M3 Max dies. Altogether, this could also open doors for more unified memory on the chip.
Note that these are mere speculations at this stage, as the final word rests with Apple, and little to no details are available on the forthcoming M3 Ultra chip. It was previously rumored that the chip will be based on TSMC's N3E node. It remains to be seen when Apple releases the new M3 Ultra-powered Mac Studio, but initial speculations have coined a mid-2024 release. The company will potentially announce the new machines at its WWDC 2024 event if past rumors have any heft. What are your expectations regarding the performance of the M3 Ultra chip? Let us know in the comments.
About the author: Ali Salman is a technology reporter for Wccftech mobile section with a specialized focus on Apple and the intellectual property that drives mobile innovation. He has cultivated a unique expertise in analyzing and deconstructing complex technology patents, translating dense legal and technical documents into clear, insightful reports on future products.
Follow Wccftech on Google to get more of our news coverage in your feeds.
