Samuel Axon
Apple is in the late stages of readying several new Mac models built on the forthcoming M2 chip, according to a report from Bloomberg citing both developer logs and people familiar with the matter.
Over the past couple of years, Apple has been transitioning nearly its entire Mac product line from Intel’s chips to Apple’s system on a chip, which includes a CPU, GPU, NPU, ISP, and more. The first generation of Macs running on Apple’s silicon used the M1 chip and its more powerful variants, the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra.
Now Apple plans to introduce the M2, an evolutionary step from the M1.
According to the developer logs, Apple is working on the following machines:
- MacBook Air with the M2, codenamed J413
- Mac mini codenamed J473 with the same M2, and another codenamed J474 with the M2 Pro
- Entry-level MacBook Pro with the same M2, codenamed J493
- 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 Pro and M2 Max, codenamed J414
- 16-inch MacBook Pro with the same M2 Pro and M2 Max, codenamed J416
- Mac Pro codenamed J180, with a successor to the Mac Studio’s M1 Ultra
The M2 seen in the logs has eight CPU cores and 10 GPU cores—that’s two more GPU cores than the most robust M1 chip. Meanwhile, the M2 Max has 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores with 64GB of memory—two more CPU cores and six more GPU cores than the M1 Max.
Unfortunately, the report doesn’t detail the breakdown of efficiency cores versus performance cores in the M2 or M2 Max., or Bloomberg didn’t report it.
This breakdown suggests that the M2 will be iteratively faster and more robust than the M1, but unsurprisingly, it appears it may not be a radical leap or major departure.
This story doesn’t include details about ship dates, but it does note that the testing process is “far along in some cases.” However, not every model listed above is guaranteed to ship to consumers.
In a previous report, Bloomberg claimed that Apple plans to introduce two new Macs this summer, likely at the company’s annual developer conference in June. The most likely candidate appears to be a heavily redesigned MacBook Air with the M2, but an updated 13-inch MacBook Pro and Mac mini are also possibilities, as is a new Mac Pro.
