Apple’s First 2022 Macs to Debut Alongside iPhone SE 3 in March: Gurman

In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman shares his expectations for 2022 Mac launches from Apple and says there will likely be three rounds of releases.

Per Gurman, we should see the first 2022 Macs launch in March, alongside the iPhone SE 3 and iPad Air 5 at an event currently rumoured for March 8. Gurman’s sources point to the second round of releases taking place around May or June, and a third later in the fall.

Gurman said “the transition to Apple Silicon will shift into high gear” this year, and the upcoming Macs will be powered by the following Apple Silicon:

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

The super-powered versions of the M1 Max chip are likely destined for the Apple Silicon-toting Mac Pro, which will mark the completion of Apple’s two-year transition to in-house processors.

Gurman expects Apple to launch the following Mac products over the course of this year:

  • new Mac mini with an M1 Pro chip
  • 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
  • Mac mini with an M2 chip
  • 24-inch iMac with an M2 chip
  • Redesigned MacBook Air with an M2 chip
  • Larger iMac Pro with M1 Pro and M1 Max chip options
  • Half-sized Mac Pro, the first with Apple Silicon, with the equivalent of either two or four M1 Max chips

Given that the oldest Apple Silicon Macs currently sold by Apple are the MacBook Air, entry-level MacBook Pro, and Mac mini, Gurman hazards the company is looking to launch an updated base MacBook Pro and Mac mini at its March event, leaving the MacBook Air for later in the year to serve as a nice holiday seller.

Apple’s new Mac Pro shouldn’t be expected before the fall either, according to the analyst, since Apple will likely seek to first drum up developer support for the juiced-up chips that will power it at WWDC in June.

The larger, likely-27-inch iMac could be in store for Apple’s May/June launch event, and the company will sprinkle other Mac releases over the year.

Gurman also imparted what he knows so far about the new custom silicon Apple will be debuting this year:

  • 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.

Back at the start of the year, Gurman detailed all of the product launches he expects from Apple this year.

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