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The quick answer with some brief history.
e36 M3: Had a normal automatic. Nothing special here, and the Manual was quicker in general.
e46 M3: This M3 debuted the SMG transmission. SMG was much faster than a 6MT in terms of shift times as this technology was straight out of F1 and GT racing.
e92 M3: This car will debut the M-DCT transmission similar to how the previous generation of M3 was to the SMG that later was used in M5 and M6 models and even the normal e9X 3-series automatics.
The M-DCT is a Dual (wet) Clutch Transmission, in development by Getrag, that is reported of having shift times faster than the SMG at around 60ms, 0.06s. This is the ultimate of performance automatic transmission and when it is released expect the 0-60 time of the car to drop 0.2s on average. This benefit in timed performance will only build up over the course of a track lap or extended duration where more shifts are involved.
There is plenty of more information, so I suggest taking Lucid's advice and doing a forum search on the topic.
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