In this week’s edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman said he expects Apple to launch a new entry-level MacBook Pro with the company’s next-generation ‘M2’ System on a Chip (SoC) sometime this year (via 9to5Mac).
Apple launched the M1 Pro and M1 Max-powered MacBook Pro models, Apple’s most powerful notebooks to date, in October of last year. The upcoming entry-level MacBook Pro will reportedly serve as a successor to the base 13-inch M1 MacBook Pro from 2020.
“I’d expect the new entry-level MacBook Pro to match the high-end MacBook Pros by losing the Touch Bar, but key differentiators will be lesser displays, processors, and storage, and no ProMotion nor miniLED,” said Gurman in his newsletter.
While the 2020 MacBook Pro sported a 13-inch screen, the new entry-level MacBook Pro will reportedly come with a 14-inch display. Apple ditching the Touch Bar on the 2022 MacBook Pro would (finally) take the polarizing feature out of Apple’s current product circulation.
According to reports, the base M2 chip will be an upgrade to the M1 chip from 2020 but won’t be able to match the higher-end M1 variants in performance. Apple will likely have more powerful chips based on the M2 SoC in store for later down the line, similar to its M1 roadmap.
“It’ll be one of many Macs in the pipeline with the M2 chip, including refreshes to the 24-inch iMac, entry-level Mac mini and revamped MacBook Air,” added Gurman.
The analyst believes the new MacBook Pro will ship with an LCD screen instead of miniLED, depriving the notebook of Apple’s 120Hz ProMotion technology. The upcoming MacBook Air refresh, which is also expected to boast an M2 chip under the hood, might still feature a miniLED screen, according to a report from fellow Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
With Apple almost finishing its two-year transition from Intel chips to its own silicon, the company is set to launch a few new Macs in 2022.
Apple is scheduled to complete its two-year transition to Apple Silicon in 2022, and the company has several new Macs planned to mark the occasion. Of course, Apple won’t have moved completely over to its own custom silicon until it launches a successor to the Intel-powered Mac Pro from 2019.
