Apple plans to release new MacBook models in the fourth quarter of this year, according to a new report of DigiTimes. DigiTimes also reported last week that suppliers “get ready” for shipments of the arriving products.
The report confirms a number of rumors that have surfaced this summer and makes the prospect of a MacBook release in October more and more likely.
In June, just days after Apple released this year’s M2-powered MacBook Air and MacBook Pro, Bloomberg reported that updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models could ship in early 2023. These MacBooks probably won’t look much different from their predecessors, but they are expected to feature more powerful M2 Max chips with 12 CPU cores and up to 38 GPU cores.
This report also postulated a 15-inch MacBook Air scheduled for release by next spring and a 12-incher by early 2024.
In August, Bloomberg reported that the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBooks were “well in development and testing” and could be released as early as this fall. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, another reliable leaker, has: also predicted that the products will begin mass production in the fourth quarter of this year.
Apple traditionally unveils hardware in October and we do expect the company to hold a hardware event in Cupertino next month. However, the specific hardware announced at this event has varied over the years; we first looked at the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models there in 2021, but we might as well see an iMac or Mac Pro this year. (Leakers were pretty sure we’ll likely see a new iPad Pro this fall, too.)
However, these reports of a Q4 release make it increasingly likely that Apple will follow last year’s schedule and announce new MacBook Pros next month.
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Last year’s MacBook Pro releases were massive redesigns, bringing back MagSafe and some ports that had been missing from the devices for several years. (It also added the controversial notch to the top of the laptops’ screens, among other design elements.)
We don’t expect this year’s MacBooks to feature chassis changes on that scale. Kuo’s Resources have indicated that new processors will be “the most significant upgrade” to the MacBook Pro line this year. (It would also be unusual for a MacBook model to see significant design changes two years in a row.)
Kuo has also predicted that the processors debuting in these machines probably won’t be the first 3nm MacBook chips, as some rumors had previously indicated that could be the case. Kuo expects the new MacBooks “may still use the advanced 5nm node,” meaning they would be built on the same process as the recent M2 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro models. (The new A16 Bionic, which powers the iPhone 14 Pro, uses a 4nm structure.)
There are only a few weeks left to speculate – it seems increasingly likely that everything will become clear at Apple’s launch event in October.
