Luminar AI Update 3 adds native support for M1 Macs with big speed bump

Luminar AI (Image credit: Luminar)

What you need to know

Luminar AI Update 3 is now available for download.
The new update includes M1 support and more.

Popular sky replacement app Luminar AI now natively supports Apple's M1 chips, making the app faster in the process. The new Apple silicon support is part of the Update 3 release that is available for download now.

Skylum is releasing LuminarAI Update 3, which brings new benefits to the AI powered editing tool. With this update, we continue to deliver on our commitment to make it easier for artists of every skill level to achieve incredible results with their photos.

While the update brings a ton of changes, the one that will capture most attention is native support for Apple's M1 chips. As part of the new update, users can look forward to some pretty impressive speed improvements to say the least.

Apple M1 Support — LuminarAI now runs on Apple's next generation M1 machines. With the native M1 support in Update 3, macOS users can take full advantage of the faster processing of Apple's M1 chips.

In terms of improvements, these are the numbers Skylum is telling us to expect.

Sky AI application: 22% quicker.
Switch to Edit panel: 23% quicker.
Effect application: 32% quicker.
App launch time: 33% quicker.
Export performance: 36% quicker.
Accent AI application: 61% quicker.

The updated app is available for download now and you can learn more about it on the Luminar AI blog.

The best Mac to run this app on right now is probably the new M1 iMac. Now might be a good time to make sure you check out our list of the best iMac deals before placing your order.

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.