Home > CPU Comparison > M6 (12-Core) or Apple M3: what's better?

Apple M6 (12-Core) vs Apple M3

86 out of 100
Apple M6 (12-Core)
VS
67 out of 100
Apple M3
Apple M6 (12-Core)
Apple M3

We compared two laptop CPUs: the 4.79 GHz Apple M6 (12-Core) with 12-cores against the 4.05 GHz Apple M3 with 8-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 M3 and (12-Core)
Advantages of Apple M6 (12-Core)
  • Newer - released 2 years and 10 months later
  • Around 67.6 GB/s (66%) higher theoretical memory bandwidth
  • More modern manufacturing process – 2 versus 3 nanometers
  • Has 4 more physical cores
  • 53% faster in a single-core Geekbench v6 test - 4610 vs 3009 points
  • More powerful Apple M6 GPU (12-core) integrated graphics: 4.9 vs 3.5 TFLOPS
  • Supports up to 32 GB LPDDR5X-10667 RAM

Test in Benchmarks

Comparing the performance of CPUs across various tasks
CPU:
M6 (12-Core)
vs
Apple M3

Cinebench

Reputable cross-platform benchmark for high-performance processors
Cinebench 2024 (Single)
M6 (12-Core) +56%
218
Apple M3
140
Cinebench 2024 (Multi)
M6 (12-Core) +84%
1308
Apple M3
712
Cinebench 2026 (Multi) - 2341
Cinebench Scores (#91st place)
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)
M6 (12-Core) +53%
4610
Apple M3
3009
Geekbench 6 (Multi-Core)
M6 (12-Core) +75%
20676
Apple M3
11815
File compression - 1260 MB/sec
Clang compilation - 94.7 Klines/sec
HTML 5 Browser - 264.5 pages/sec
PDF Renderer - 313.9 Mpixels/sec
Text processing - 297 pages/sec
Background blur - 50.2 images/sec
Photo processing - 114.8 images/sec
Ray tracing - 12.9 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)
Passmark CPU (Multi-Core)
Integer math - 42.6 GOps/sec
Floating point math - 48.3 GOps/sec
Find prime numbers - 231M Primes/sec
Random string sorting - 27.3M Strings/sec
Data encryption - 11.5 GBytes/sec
Data compression - 225 MBytes/sec
Physics - 1867 Frames/sec
Extended instructions - 10B Matrices/sec
Sources: PassMark [3] – 1563 samples

Blender

3D rendering test that measures CPU performance in 3D modeling tasks (uses all cores)
Blender CPU
M6 (12-Core)
n/a
Apple M3
160.35

Performance Per Watt

Shows the score you get per each watt of PL1 TDP
Cinebench 2024 / Watt - 35.6 PPW
Geekbench 6 Multi / Watt - 590.8 PPW
Passmark CPU Mark / Watt - 953.3 PPW
Blender / Watt - 8.02 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 M6 (12-Core)
No benchmark results yet
Add
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)

Specifications

Full technical specification of Apple M6 (12-Core) and Apple M3

General

Vendor Apple Apple
Released August 25, 2026 October 30, 2023
Type Laptop Laptop
Instruction Set ARMv9 ARMv8
Codename Apple M6 Apple M3
Model number T8152 -
Integrated GPU Apple M6 GPU (12-core) Apple M3 GPU
Successor - - Apple M5 (10-Core)

CPU

Performance Cores
P-Cores 6 4
P-Threads 6 4
Base Frequency (P) 4.79 GHz 4.05 GHz
Efficient Cores
E-Cores 6 4
E-Threads 6 4
Base Frequency (E) - 2.75 GHz
Total
Total Cores 12 8
Total Threads 12 8
Bus Frequency 100 MHz -
Multiplier 47x 40x
L1 Cache 256K (per core) 192K (per core)
L2 Cache 8MB (shared) 16MB (shared)
Unlocked Multiplier No No

Package

Transistors - 25 billions
Fabrication Process 2 nm 3 nm
TDP (PL1) - 20 W
Socket Apple M-Socket Apple M-Socket
Peak Temperature - 100Β°C
Laptop processors ranking (10th and 68th place)

iGPU

Integrated Graphics Apple M6 GPU (12-core) Apple M3 GPU
GPU Base Clock - 500 MHz
GPU Boost Clock 1600 MHz 1380 MHz
Shading Units 1536 1280
TMUs 96 80
ROPs 80 40
Execution Units 192 160
TGP - 15 W
iGPU FLOPS
M6 (12-Core) +40%
4.9 TFLOPS
Apple M3
3.5 TFLOPS
More info: Apple M3 GPU (10-core) compared to M6 GPU (12-core)

Memory Support

Memory Types - LPDDR5X-10667 - LPDDR5-6400
Max. Memory Size 32 GB 24 GB
Memory Channels 8 8
Max. Memory Bandwidth 170 GB/s 102.4 GB/s
ECC Support No No

Misc

PCI Express Version - 4.0

Cast your vote

Choose between two processors
2 (100%)
0 (0%)
Total votes: 2

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5. Apple M3 vs Apple M2
6. Apple M3 vs Apple M1 Pro (17)
7. Apple M6 (12-Core) vs Apple M5 (10-Core) (2)
8. Apple M6 (12-Core) vs Intel Core Ultra 9 386H
9. Apple M6 (12-Core) vs Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme (X2E-96-100)
10. Apple M6 (12-Core) vs Apple M4 Pro (14-Core)
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Comments

So which CPU will you choose: Apple M3 or M6 (12-Core)?
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