The M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chipsets were launched last year; however, the M3 Ultra has finally surfaced.
Yes, over four months after Apple unveiled the latest generation of Apple Silicon, the company has finally unleashed the most powerful version of the previous generation.
Apple announced chipset refreshes of several products earlier this week, including the highly anticipated M4 version of the MacBook Air, an M3 iPad Air, and an updated Mac Studio.
The Mac Studio has often been the only product to launch with the Ultra variant of the M-series chipsets, and the 2025 Mac Studio is no different. But if you were hoping for the M4 Ultra, sadly, it seems we'll need to wait on that launch. The Mac Studio 2025 comes with either an M4 Max or M3 Ultra chipset.
Now, you might be wondering why you might want the older CPU architecture on the Mac Studio, and thanks to a leaked benchmark run found on the Geekbench 6 archives, we might have an answer.
M3 Ultra Geekbench scores compared to M4 Max
Spotted on social media, the Geekbench 6 Archive listing for a Mac 15,14 indicates a Geekbench 6 single-core score of 3,221 and a multicore score of 27,749.
M3 Ultra Geekbench CPU.https://t.co/B8imZTL5Rg@VadimYuryev @MarcTech1996 @lafaiel pic.twitter.com/SPI5OgrvUMMarch 7, 2025
The Geekbench 6 listing does identify the CPU as the M3 Ultra with 32 CPU cores and 256GB of memory. While this is a bonkers amount of RAM, the Mac Studio M3 Ultra can be configured with 96GB up to 512GB of unified memory.
The M4 Max can be configured with 36GB up to 128GB of unified memory and features up to 16 CPU cores.
Based on the best M4 Max 16-core benchmark results on the Geekbench 6 archives, you'll notice the M4 Max has the lead on single-core performance, while the M3 Ultra has a serious multi-core advantage, having double the CPU cores.
The M3 Ultra was always going to benchmark higher in multicore performance, as it does feature twice the core-count of the M4 Max. However, you might be expecting a much wider gap between the M3 Ultra's 32-core CPU and the M4 Max's 16-core CPU, but the M4 operates at a higher boost frequency than the M3, which can make up some of the performance loss from a lower core count.
There's also the architecture difference of the Ultra series SoC (system-on-a-chip). An M-Ultra chip is essentially two Max CPUs connected via an UltraFusion interconnect, so the M3 Ultra is essentially two M3 Max chips working together. While this is an interesting design challenge that takes time to develop, there is a performance loss on the Ultra chips.
The performance loss of the M3 Ultra comes down to simple semiconductor math. The smaller a circuit, the more efficient it is. So, the M4 Max not only operates at a higher frequency than the M3 Max chips inside the M3 Ultra, but the M4 Max cores are all contained on a single die chipset rather than the Ultra's dual-chipset and interconnect design.
What this means for the Mac Studio
Depending on what kind of work you do, the M4 Max may be the better Mac Studio to opt for.
The M4 Max isn't far behind the M3 Ultra in multicore performance, but if you need additional memory to handle heavy GPU workloads, the increased GPU cores and massive unified memory cache of the M3 Ultra is the way to go. So for video editing and 3D rendering, the M3 Ultra will likely still be the better choice.
But if your work mostly includes photo editing or 2D design, the M4 Max may be the most economical choice. After all, photo editing and 2D design wouldn't often require the M3 Ultra's gigantic unified memory cache or additional GPU cores.
Neither Mac Studio is a bargain, with the M4 Max 14-core variant starting at $1,999 and the M3 Ultra 28-core starting at $3,999. However, when fully configured with a 32-core CPU and maximum memory and storage options, the M3 Ultra Mac Studio costs about $14,099. Meanwhile, a fully configured M4 Max 16-core CPU with maximum memory and storage options is $5,899.
The M4 Max Studio limits you in CPU cores, unified memory cache, and storage options. But you can still get a powerful 16-core CPU, up to 128GB of unified memory, and up to 8TB of storage. So that $5,899 M4 Max Mac Studio is still an absolute powerhouse.
But if you're looking to take on Pixar with a 3D animation studio run from your garage, the M3 Ultra may be worth the investment.
