iPhone 13 Pro, with A15 Bionic, scored around 2250 Geekbench 6 single core. M2 Max, more-so around 2800. These two chips are comparable because they use the same microarchitecture, and it indicates a ~20-25% uplift in single core mostly just through pushing more power through the chip.
If they can drive the same increase with an M3 chip based on the A17 Pro microarchitecture, a single-core score of 3500 is within reach. For a laptop.
Comparison: the i9 13900KS, the current stock single-core performance champion, can push 3100 with excellent cooling; and it reaches this blistering performance (~10% faster than an M2 Ultra) by, singularly, drawing upward of 220 watts from the wall [1]. The Ryzen 7900x isn't far behind, in both metrics. An entire M2 Max SoC peaks at around 90 watts, and there's evidence that the CPU in isolation draws closer to 35 watts [2].
It cannot be understated how far ahead Apple is.
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i9-13900ks-c...
[2] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-M2-Max-Processor-Benchma...
If they can drive the same increase with an M3 chip based on the A17 Pro microarchitecture, a single-core score of 3500 is within reach. For a laptop.
Comparison: the i9 13900KS, the current stock single-core performance champion, can push 3100 with excellent cooling; and it reaches this blistering performance (~10% faster than an M2 Ultra) by, singularly, drawing upward of 220 watts from the wall [1]. The Ryzen 7900x isn't far behind, in both metrics. An entire M2 Max SoC peaks at around 90 watts, and there's evidence that the CPU in isolation draws closer to 35 watts [2].
It cannot be understated how far ahead Apple is.
[1] https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/intel-core-i9-13900ks-c...
[2] https://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-M2-Max-Processor-Benchma...