Apple’s M2 MacBook Pros Now Launching in Spring 2023: Gurman

In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman narrowed down his expected launch timeline for Apple’s refreshed 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with higher-end M2 Pro and M2 Max chips to “early next year.”

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 and has tied the launches to the upcoming macOS Ventura 13.3 and iOS 16.3. Those software updates are expected to debut between early February and the beginning of March.

Gurman said the likeliest launch window for the new MacBook Pro models would be somewhere in the middle of March, considering Apple hasn’t really debuted any new products in January or February as of late. March is fair game, though, since that’s when the company launched the Mac Studio earlier this year.

Last week, Gurman reported that Apple could release new MacBook Pro models and an M2-powered Mac mini as early as this fall. However, Apple’s own public comments have indicated that those plans have been pushed back.

During Apple’s quarterly earnings call on Thursday, CEO Tim Cook said the company’s product line was “set” for this holiday season. Meanwhile, Apple CFO Luca Maestri said the company is expecting Mac revenue for the December quarter, which for the last two years has seen a healthy boost from new product launches, to decline.

“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,” Maestri said. “Therefore, we expect Mac revenue to decline substantially year over year during the December quarter.”

With the new high-end MacBook Pro models being pushed into Spring 2023, Gurman noted that Apple will now have fewer devices to sell during the holiday quarter, which has historically been the company’s biggest of the year.

Earlier this week, Apple posted $90.1 billion in revenue for the September quarter. The December quarter, meanwhile, has handily surpassed the $100 billion mark for the past two years.

Even though Mac revenue is likely to dip significantly, Apple’s 2022 holiday quarter is still expected to post 3% year-over-year growth and top $128 billion.

“The new MacBook Pros will continue to look like the current models, but they’ll trade their M1 Pro and M1 Max chips for the first M2 Pro and M2 Max processors,” Gurman said. “The M2 Max will go to 12 CPU cores, up from 10, and see its top graphics option move to 38 cores from 32.”

Gurman still expects Apple to unveil a new Mac mini with an M2 — and maybe even an M2 Pro — chip alongside (or around the same time as) the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.

In addition, the tipster said Apple will follow these launches up with its first Apple Silicon Mac Pro, internal testing of which has recently ramped up, later in the year.

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