Gurman first hinted at this last June when he noted that Apple was working on a 13-inch MacBook Air, a 15-inch MacBook Air, and a new iMac equipped with the M3. Then he added that the M3 chip could appear already this year, but so far this has not happened.
Instead, Apple added the new M2 Pro and M2 Max processors to the MacBook Pro line it announced earlier this month, as well as the M2 Pro chip in the Mac mini. These processors are based on the second-generation 5nm process, which is an improvement over the standard 5nm process in the M1 chips.
The upcoming M3 processor is expected to take it one step further. According to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which produces chips for Apple, the 3nm process can increase speed by 15% and reduce power consumption by 30% compared to the 5nm process. TSMC began mass production of 3nm chips at its factories in Taiwan last year, but the technology won't appear at the manufacturer's new Arizona plant until 2026.