Will we see an M2-powered MacBook Pro at Apple’s March event? The latest news from the supply chain watchers at Digitimes suggests that we’re a month away from a new Mac laptop. While the awkward entry-level MacBook Pro is in need of an update, is March the right time to do it?
MacBook Pro is seen in a shop in Krakow, Poland on January 21, 2022. (Photo by Beata … [+]
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Most Apple watchers have agreed on the arrival of the M2 based Macs during 2022, the question that is harder to answer is when they will arrive. This report from Digitimes suggests that the upcoming event in March will be the debut of the next-generation Apple Silicon chipset.
I’m not so sure.
First of all, Apple is still struggling to meet the demand of the latest top-end MacBook Pro laptops. The introduction of the 14-Inch and 16-Inch machines at the end of 2021 were try professional machines, and priced as such. With backlogs reaching a month, Apple would have to take a tough decision to hold back the flagship for an entry-level model.
Secondly, is now the time to launch the M2 chipset? Apple’s marketing message is perhaps more important than arguing over a few percentage points with the geekeratir. Given the jump in the number, even with amazing suffixes attached, many are going to think that the M1 Pro and M1 Max are inferior to the M2. While there are benchmark indications that this may be the case with the M1 and M2 comparisons, the increased core count on CPU and GPU architecture along with the increased cooling will probably keep the Max and Pro ahead of the Two.
Finally for the moment, although there has been talk of an 18 month cycle, I would expect the M2 hardware to be tightly tied to software. And the macOS software is slap bang in the middle of the cycle. With the next version of macOS due to be revealed at WWDC in June before going into beta ahead of a release in October, surely it makes more sense integration wise to wait until October for the first M2 Mac?
It certainly makes sense to keep pushing the M1 based machines over the next few months – especially as Apple still has to update the iMac Pro and Mac Pro lines towards Apple Silicon before we reach the self0imposed deadline of the end of 2022. A Mac Pro with M1 Supermax, versus a MacBook Pro with M2? The pitch just doesn’t work.
You know what does work with this supply chain signal? Another step up in the M1 platform to the totally presumptious M1 Supermax chipset that will have performance above the current machines. These would work very well in the iMac Pro and Mac Pro, fulfilling Apple’s promise some nine months ahead of schedule.
That would offer the opportunity to kickstart the M2 revolution in October; and if Apple follows a similar schedule to the m1, we can expect to see the entry-level MacBook Pro show up alongside the MacBook Air and the Mac cycle begin once more.
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