There were many rumors about a new MacBook Pro coming at WWDC, but it (sadly) didn’t happen. However, metadata attached to the WWDC keynote video indicates that Apple might actually have been planning to launch the new MacBook Pro this week after all.
In the keyword tags for Apple’s official WWDC YouTube video, the terms ‘m1x’ and ‘ M1X MacBook Pro’ can be found. This was first spotted by Max Balzer on Twitter.
The upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro are believed to feature next-generation Apple Silicon with eight high-performance cores and two power-efficiency cores, as well as the return of ports including HDMI and an SD card reader, a high-contrast mini-LED display similar to the one seen in the latest generation of iPad Pro, all enclosed in a new modern industrial design.
These tags are defined by the uploader of the YouTube video, so someone at Apple thought the M1X MacBook Pro would be announced on Monday.
In addition to confirming that new MacBook Pros are at least somewhat imminent, it also reveals Apple’s branding intentions for the new Mac chip as ‘M1X’.
The M1X represents the next step up in Apple’s chip silicon roadmap for the Mac. In addition to offering better CPU performance compared to the M1, Bloomberg has reported that this chip will feature up to 32 GPU cores, as well as support up to 64 GB RAM. (Dual and quad M1X variants of this chip are expected to drive future iMac Pro and Mac Pro models.)
There has been some speculation that the global chip shortage has meant Apple has had to delay the release of the new MacBook Pro models. Supply chain reports expect the laptops to appear sometime in the second half of 2021.
It’s unclear when exactly Apple will launch these devices. Perhaps Apple will wait until its next media event blitz in September/October, or maybe Apple will release them in the next couple of months with press releases and the usual review embargo fanfare.
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