Apple may have two new MacBook Pros in the works, and they could be arriving a lot sooner than many of us thought.
According to a new report, the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros are making a comeback as early as this fall. This time around, they will come equipped with brand-new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, bringing the notebooks to new levels of performance.
Not a lot of time has passed since Apple debuted the M2 chip inside the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air, but it was made clear right away that Apple would be looking to upgrade the M2 chip. That time might be coming even sooner than expected.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple’s internal goal is to launch the M2 Pro and M2 Max inside two new MacBook Pros, and it might happen as early as this fall. The latest estimates point to spring 2023, which means a launch timeline between the last quarter of 2022 and the first two quarters of 2023. Gurman admits that it’s hard to predict an exact date at this point due to various challenges with the supply chain.
In his Power On newsletter, Gurman claims that Apple is working on a 14-inch version of the MacBook Pro, as well as a 16-inch model. Both are said to feature an upgraded M2 chip, be it the M2 Pro or the M2 Max. As we noted upon its launch, the M2 is not quite the generational upgrade one might hope for, so it’s no wonder that Apple is eager to release the boosted versions of the chip sooner rather than later.
Not much has been said about the capabilities of the rumored M2 Pro and M2 Max, but Gurman says that Apple will continue to zone in on top-notch graphics performance. In the newsletter (quoted by 9to5Mac), he said: “Look for much of the focus to be on the graphics side, just like with the standard M2.” This could potentially make the new MacBook Pros even more attractive to content creators and other professionals.
The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros will come with supercharged hardware thanks to the new chips, but other than that, not a lot is going to change. Seeing as the MacBook Pro was only recently redesigned, Apple may not introduce any major changes this time around and will focus on pure performance gains.
The new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air that introduced the M2 chip have already faced their fair share of difficulties. Apple didn’t emphasize the cooling of these devices enough, and as a result, some reviewers pointed out that the M2 MacBook Air has a heat problem. In addition, the M2 may not have been as mind-blowing a change as the M1 was — but it still managed to beat a $6,000 Mac Pro that’s still much in need of an upgrade to Apple silicon.
Both the Apple M2 Pro and M2 Max could potentially offer major upgrades to the performance of the chip, so even without any major changes, the new MacBook Pros just might be a hit. If the fall 2022 release date prediction checks out, then it won’t be long until Apple reveals the new notebooks.
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