The Apple M3 9-Core GPU is a self-designed graphics card in the Apple M3 SoC and according to Apple with nine of the ten cores. It was first used in the iPad Air 2025. According to Apple, the GPU uses a new architecture and now offers dynamic caching, mesh shading and ray tracing acceleration.
The GPU can access 8 GB LPDDR5-6400 unified memory via a 128-bit memory bus (max 100 GBit/s). Thanks to dynamic caching, the graphics card only reserves as much memory as is required.
The SoC is manufactured in the current 3nm process (probably N3B) at TSMC and is therefore very energy-efficient. The graphics unit can use around 15 watts of the TDP.
Apple M3 Series
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pipelines | 9 - unified | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Memory Type | LPDDR5-6400 | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Shared Memory | no | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Power Consumption | 15 Watt | |||||||||||||||||||||
| technology | 5 nm | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Date of Announcement | 31.10.2023 | |||||||||||||||||||||
- Average benchmark valuesThe following benchmarks stem from our benchmarks of review laptops. The performance depends on the used graphics memory, clock rate, processor, system settings, drivers, and operating systems. So the results don't have to be representative for all laptops with this GPU. For detailed information on the benchmark results, click on the fps number.
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Diablo Immortal | 58.8 | 59 | ||||
| Genshin Impact | 59 | 58 | ||||
| PUBG Mobile | 59 | 39 | ||||
| low | med. | high | ultra | QHD | 4K | < 30 fps < 60 fps < 120 fps ≥ 120 fps | 3 | | | 3 | | |
For more games that might be playable and a list of all games and graphics cards visit our Gaming List
Apple iPad Air 13 2025: Apple M3, 12.90", 0.6 kg
External Review » Apple iPad Air 13 2025
Apple iPad Air 11 2025: Apple M3, 10.86", 0.5 kg
External Review » Apple iPad Air 11 2025
» Instagram iPad app leaks as head honcho promises fix for abysmal searchability
Apple iPad Air 13 2025: Apple M3, 12.90", 0.6 kg
» Verdict on the Apple iPad Air 13 (2025): A powerful tablet for almost all kinds of use
» Comparison of GPUs
Detailed list of all laptop GPUs sorted by class and performance.
» Benchmark List
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» Notebook Gaming List
Playable games for each graphics card and their average FPS results.
* Approximate position of the graphics adapter
Top 10 Laptops
Multimedia, Budget Multimedia, Gaming, Budget Gaming, Lightweight Gaming, Business, Budget Office, Workstation, Subnotebooks, Ultrabooks, Chromebooks
under 300 USD/Euros, under 500 USD/Euros, 1,000 USD/Euros, for University Students, Best Displays
Top 10 Smartphones
Smartphones, Phablets, ≤6-inch, Camera Smartphones
