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Apple M3 vs A18 Pro (MacBook)

67 out of 100
Apple M3
VS
66 out of 100
Apple A18 Pro (MacBook)
Apple M3
Apple A18 Pro (MacBook)

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 with 8-cores against the 2 GHz A18 Pro (MacBook) with 6-cores. On this page, you'll find out which processor has better performance in benchmarks, games and other useful information.

  1. Review
  2. Differences
  3. Performance
  4. Specs
  5. Comments

Review

General overview and comparison of the processors
Single-Core Performance
Performance in single-threaded apps and benchmarks
Multi-Core Performance
Measure performance when all cores are involved
Power Efficiency
The efficiency score of power consumption
Integrated Graphics
iGPU capabilities for gaming and 3D-intensive tasks
DeviceFacts Final Score
Choose your main usage scenario to recalculate the Final Score and see which CPU suits your needs.
πŸ”Œ Usage Scenario:

Key Differences

What are the key differences between (MacBook) and M3
Advantages of Apple M3
  • Supports up to 24 GB LPDDR5-6400 RAM
  • Around 42.4 GB/s (71%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More powerful Apple M3 GPU integrated graphics: 3.5 vs 2.3 TFLOPS
  • Has 2 more physical cores
Advantages of Apple A18 Pro (MacBook)
  • Newer - released 10 months later
  • 20% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 3615 vs 3009 points

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
Apple M3
vs
A18 Pro (MacBook)

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) 2341 -
Submit your benchmark results

GeekBench v6

The new version of this benchmark emulates common operations often used in real-world apps
Geekbench 6 (Single-Core)
Apple M3
3009
A18 Pro (MacBook) +20%
3615
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
Apple M3 +28%
11815
A18 Pro (MacBook)
9225
File compression 1260 MB/sec 1050 MB/sec
Clang compilation 94.7 Klines/sec 58.1 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser 264.5 pages/sec 201.6 pages/sec
PDF Renderer 313.9 Mpixels/sec 214.8 Mpixels/sec
Text processing 297 pages/sec 318.8 pages/sec
Background blur 50.2 images/sec 41 images/sec
Photo processing 114.8 images/sec 91.5 images/sec
Ray tracing 12.9 Mpixels/sec 9.18 Mpixels/sec
Sources: GeekBench [1], [2] – 438 samples

PassMark

Synthetic test that focuses on raw computational performance for low-level functions
Passmark CPU (Single-Core)
Apple M3 +15%
4707
A18 Pro (MacBook)
4078
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Apple M3 +49%
19065
A18 Pro (MacBook)
12812
Integer math 42.6 GOps/sec 37.5 GOps/sec
Floating point math 48.3 GOps/sec 25.4 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers 231M Primes/sec 132M Primes/sec
Random string sorting 27.3M Strings/sec 17.2M Strings/sec
Data encryption 11.5 GBytes/sec 8 GBytes/sec
Data compression 225 MBytes/sec 133.5 MBytes/sec
Physics 1867 Frames/sec 1380 Frames/sec
Extended instructions 10B Matrices/sec 6.5B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3], [4] – 1563 & 962 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
Apple M3 +126%
160.35
A18 Pro (MacBook)
71.04

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt 35.6 PPW 70.2 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt 590.8 PPW 922.5 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt 953.3 PPW 1281.2 PPW
Blender / Watt 8.02 PPW 7.1 PPW
These are rough calculations, as most CPUs surpass PL1 TDP wattage even in multicore workloads.

Recent User Tests

The latest benchmark tests that have been submitted by users
Apple M3
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-08-22 (doannguyenmfs)Geekbench 6 CPU2991 / 11735
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-16 (darkknightSup)Geekbench 6 CPU2990 / 11498
Add View all (2)
Apple A18 Pro (MacBook)
DateBenchmarkResult
πŸ“˜ 2026-10-03 -> RennsportGeekbench 7 CPU3006 / 7807
πŸ“˜ 2026-06-03 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 CPU3505 / 8840
πŸ“˜ 2026-04-24 -> RennsportGeekbench 6 CPU3505 / 8840
Add View all (3)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M3 and A18 Pro (MacBook)

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released October 30, 2023 September 9, 2024
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv8 ARMv9
Codename Apple M3 Apple M4
Model number - APL1V07
Integrated GPU Apple M3 GPU Apple A18 Pro GPU
Successor - Apple M5 (10-Core) -

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 4 2
P-Threads 4 2
Base Frequency (P) 4.05 GHz 2 GHz
Turbo Boost Frequency (P) - 4.05 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 4 4
E-Threads 4 4
Base Frequency (E) 2.75 GHz -
Turbo Boost Frequency (E) - 2.42 GHz
Total
Total Cores 8 6
Total Threads 8 6
Multiplier 40x 40x
L1 Cache 192K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 16MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors 25 billions -
Fabrication Process 3 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) 20 W 10 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Custom
Peak Temperature 100Β°C -
Laptop processors ranking (68th and 70th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M3 GPU Apple A18 Pro GPU
GPU Base Clock 500 MHz -
GPU Boost Clock 1380 MHz 1490 MHz
Shading Units 1280 768
TMUs 80 40
ROPs 40 -
Execution Units 160 128
TGP 15 W -
iGPU FLOPS
Apple M3 +52%
3.5 TFLOPS
A18 Pro (MacBook)
2.3 TFLOPS
More info: Apple A18 Pro GPU compared to M3 GPU (10-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5-6400 - LPDDR5x-7500
Max. Memory Size 24 GB 8 GB
Memory Channels 8 4
Max. Memory Bandwidth 102.4 GB/s 60 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version 4.0 -

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
23 (67.6%)
11 (32.4%)
Total votes: 34

Competitors

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2. Apple A18 Pro (MacBook) vs Apple M5 (8-сore GPU) (2)
3. Apple A18 Pro (MacBook) vs Apple M1 (2)
4. Apple A18 Pro (MacBook) vs Intel Core Ultra 7 256V
5. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Max (4)
6. Apple M3 vs Apple M2
7. Apple M3 vs Apple M4 (10-Core) (4)
8. Apple M3 vs Apple M1
9. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Pro (17)
10. Apple M3 vs Apple M2 Pro
Compare other CPUs (460+)

Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple A18 Pro (MacBook) or Apple M3?
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