Gurman: Apple to launch new Macs in March, followed by even more in May/June

The Apple Silicon transition is expected to gain even more momentum this year with the launch of a slew of new Mac models. In a new report for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman doubles down on what to expect this year, including that we can expect around seven new Apple Silicon-powered Macs across 2022.

Gurman: What to expect from Apple Silicon in 2022

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman details that these new Macs will be powered by the following processors:

• A new M2 chip
• Last year’s M1 Pro and M1 Max chips
• Super-powered versions of the M1 Max 

But how will those processors be spread across the Mac lineup? Gurman writes that he is expecting at least seven new Macs with Apple Silicon the inside across 2022:

• A new Mac mini with an M1 Pro chip
• A 13-inch MacBook Pro with an M2 chip, to succeed the 2020 model and sit below the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in the line
• A Mac mini with an M2 chip
• A 24-inch iMac with an M2 chip
• A redesigned MacBook Air with an M2 chip
• A larger iMac Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max chip options
• A half-sized Mac Pro, the first with Apple Silicon, with the equivalent of either two or four M1 Max chips

The next round of Mac announcements is likely to happen in March, when Apple is expected to hold its first event of the year. Based on the fact that the entry-level MacBook Pro and Mac mini are “two of the oldest Apple Silicon Macs in the lineup today,” Gurman suggests that these models will be the next to be upgraded.

This implies that we can expect a new Mac mini and a new entry-level MacBook Pro as soon as Apple’s rumored event on March 8. From there, Gurman says that he’s been told Apple is “gearing up for another round of Mac releases around May or June.”

“Apple will want to drum up developer support for the super-powered Mac Pro chips, so I’d guess that the company wants to debut that machine as early as the WWDC event in June and ship it in the fall. A revamped MacBook Air would be a nice holiday seller, so it makes sense to release it around that time of year—even if Apple had originally planned to get it out the door at the end of 2021 or in early 2022.”

That second round of Mac releases could focus on the new iMac Pro as well as the new Mac Pro featuring the “super-powered versions of the M1 Max.”

• The M2’s CPU will probably be a bit speedier than the M1, but the chip should retain the same eight-core architecture. Graphics may get a boost, though, from seven or eight cores to nine or 10. 
• The Mac Pro chips will come in two main flavors: one that doubles the M1 Max’s capabilities and one that quadruples it. Look for 20 CPU cores and 64 graphics cores on the first chip, and 40 CPU cores and 128 graphics cores on the second. 

Finally, Gurman notes that based on the Apple Silicon roadmap we’ve seen so far, he expects that “Pro and Max versions of the M2” will launch in 2023 alongside the first M3.