Dan Ackerman/CNET
Rumors circulated ahead of Tuesday’s Apple event that a new MacBook Pro would make its debut that day, but alas no MacBook arrived. (Instead, Apple revealed the new Mac Studio desktop and accompanying Studio Display monitor, plus a new iPad Air and iPhone SE.) However, a new rumor from 9to5Mac suggests that a 13-inch MacBook Pro M2 could launch later in 2022, along with a new MacBook Air.
Read on for everything we’ve heard so far about the rumored new 13-inch MacBook Pro.
When will new MacBook Pros be announced?
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, a seasoned Apple watcher, estimated in February that the 13-inch MacBook Pro, succeeding the 2020 MacBook Pro, would be announced during Apple’s March event. The rumor was bolstered by a recent EEC filing, which includes at least one new laptop, model A2681.
As we know, the 13-inch MacBook Pro didn’t arrive at Apple’s most recent event. (Here’s every new device that did show up that day.) But the aforementioned rumor from 9to5Mac says a new 13-inch MacBook Pro model is in an advanced stage of development. This indicates that the updated laptop could launch in the not-too-distant future — maybe even at Apple’s WWDC in June.
An M2 chip?
The so-called M2 is being bandied about as an update to Apple’s first-gen M1 entry-level version, although we’ve heard no details beyond that. AppleTrack and others have said that the aforementioned specs would take away everything that makes a MacBook Pro a “pro” model, especially in light of speculation about a revamped Air, but I disagree. If the rumored M2 chip has specs somewhere between the M1 and M1 Max, say eight cores (with six or eight P cores), support for 32GB RAM, 14 GPU cores and no ProRes accelerator, it could serve quite well as a less expensive Pro for low-end content creation, such as most photo editing. Not everyone is editing video. And that still leaves room for a light, less powerful Air.
Most recently, Gurman wrote that a developer told him Apple has been testing multiple Macs with a new chip, and that this new chip’s specs match those of the M2 that Gurman predicted last year.
This is corroborated by the rumor from 9to5Mac, which says the expected new models of the MacBook Pro and MacBook Air will be powered by the M2: an M1 replacement that retains the M1’s eight CPU cores but ramps the GPU up to 10 cores. As it’s positioned to take over the base M1 chip’s place in the Apple Silicon lineup, the M2 might not outperform the M1 Pro, M1 Max and newly announced M1 Ultra, according to 9to5Mac.
Watch this:
What to Expect With Apple’s Next Event
8:50
Touch Bar: Yes or no?
According to AppleTrack, a previously reliable source on Weibo indicates that the design of the new 13-inch MacBook Pro wouldn’t change. If it’s true, that means the Touch Bar is staying — a decision that won’t thrill everyone. It also means no updated ProMotion display.