The base M3 was recently tested in Geekbench 6’s single-core and multi-core tests, and despite retaining the same number of performance and efficiency cores as the M2, the latest Apple Silicon ended up surpassing the 10-core CPU belonging to the M2 Pro in one category and matching it in another. Here are all the details you have been waiting for.

M3 is 16 percent faster than the M2 Pro in Geekbench 6’s single-core test

Apple’s M3 is outfitted with four performance and four efficiency cores, forming an 8-core CPU configuration that is paired with a 10-core GPU. Though the Geekbench 6’s Metal scores are yet to be revealed, we got a closer look at the single-core and multi-core results, which are downright impressive. First off, the M3’s single-core performance is off the charts, as it can beat the 10-core M2 Pro by a 16 percent margin. Apple likely achieved this result by using higher-clocked performance cores on the M3, as the image below shows that those cores are running at 4.05GHz.

There is no information on the efficiency cores’ frequency, but we will eventually stumble across those details too. In the multi-core score, there are varying results, as the 10-core version of the M2 Pro matches the performance of the M3 in some Geekbench 6 runs, while in others, the same 10-core part outpaces Apple’s 3nm SoC. Speaking of 3nm, it was probably thanks to the cutting-edge architecture that allowed the company to raise the frequency of the chipset while staying within the recommended power budget.

Of course, the 12-core version of the M2 Pro will undoubtedly have the last laugh in the multi-core results, but you have to keep in mind that if the base model of the M3 can achieve this, then there was probably a reason why Apple introduced it for the 14-inch version of the latest MacBook Pro family. It will be interesting to see how this portable Mac fares when controlling the M3’s thermals while its performance cores are taxed for more extended periods, but in the latest Geekbench 6 showing, these are incredible results, and we cannot wait for more numbers to come through.