Prolific Apple insider and analyst Ming-Chi Kuo says that Apple’s next MacBook Pro and iPad Pro may be just weeks away from production, but that a rumored exciting upgrade likely hasn’t made the cut.
Over the weekend on Twitter (opens in new tab), Kuo doubled down on his previous prediction that the new MacBook Pro would enter mass production in the fourth quarter of 2022, possibly as early as October, just five weeks away. However, at the time he noted that the 3nm process, chipmaker TSMC’s next big production leap, isn’t expected to contribute to its revenues until the first half of next year, suggesting this means it won’t make an appearance in Apple’s next best iPad and MacBook.
Kuo has now reiterated this claim and added the iPad Pro to the mix, suggesting both new Pro devices are set for mass production in 4Q22.
Indeed, Apple is expected to unveil a new iPhone 14 next week at its September iPhone event, however, it has also been tipped to hold a later fall event for a new MacBook Pro and a new iPad Pro with M2 processors.
Missing in action
Missing out on the 3nm process doesn’t mean that the chips featured in these products, likely the M2 for iPad, and the M2 Pro and Max chips for MacBook Pro, will be bad, but it does mean we may have missed out on a decent upgrade.
While it “nm” maybe sound like a measurement, 3nm (N3) is actually just a name given to the production mode. TSMC, Apple’s main chip supplier, says it will offer up to 70% logic density gains, 15% speed improvement at the same power, and up to 30% power reduction at the same speed compared to the current 5nm like Apple’s current silicon lineup. That means a future Apple silicon chip built with 3nm will be considerably better than current versions, even its huge Ultra chip variant.
Otherwise, reports indicate that Apple’s next iPad Pro and MacBook Pro are set to change very little compared to previous iterations, with new chips being the main focus of both upgrades. If reports are correct we could see these devices revealed as early as October.
