Apple is done introducing Macs in 2022, according to a reliable source of insider information. The MacBook Pro models with the M2 Pro and M2 Max allegedly won’t be out until late in Q1 2023.
The report is unconfirmed, but it fits with a recent warning from Apple’s CFO that Mac sales this quarter will be much slower than during the same period of 2021.
MacBook Pro with M2 Pro and M2 Max delayed to 2023
Rumors of 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models upgraded with faster versions of the M2 have been circulating for months. An improved Mac mini is also anticipated. These were all expected to launch in November.
But then Luca Maestri, Apple’s Chief Financial Officer said that week that Mac sales revenue in Q4 2022 will decline versus the same period of 2021.
“We have a very challenging compare against last year, which had the benefit of the launch and associated channel fill of our newly redesigned MacBook Pro with M1,” said the exec. “Therefore, we expect Mac revenue to decline substantially year over year during December quarter.”
New 2022 MacBooks and a Mac mini would certainly add to Apple’s revenue, so Maestri’s comment raised the possibility that these have been delayed.
Supposedly, that’s what’s happened. Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said Sunday, “I’m told that Apple is aiming to introduce the upgraded models – including M2-based versions of the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros – in the first quarter of calendar 2023.”
The launch will reportedly come in March, and be accompanied by the release of macOS 13.3 Ventura.
Extra time for a bigger speed boost?
Information leaking out of Apple indicates that the next MacBook Pro models will essentially be the 2021 versions with faster processors. These notebooks got a significant redesign a year ago, and Cupertino will stick with that design in the upcoming models.
The major change will be the M2 Pro and M2 Max, enhanced versions of the M2 chip that debuted in July in the 2022 MacBook Air. The original M2 is made with a 5nm process, just as the M1 was. That makes it only moderately faster than its predecessor.
Apple’s chip-maker TSMC didn’t have its new 3nm process ready in time for the M2. But the extra time before launching the next MacBook Pro models raises the possibility that the M2 Pro and M2 Max will be made with the 3nm process, which would give them a considerable performance boost over their direct predecessors.
