Apple Could Be Prepping New Macs Equipped With Next-Gen M2 Chips: Report

Apple is reportedly already preparing new Macs featuring next-gen M2 SoCs, according to a new report by Bloomberg.

The M2 chips inside these new Macs, which includes a MacBook Air, a Mac Mini, an entry-level MacBook Pro, a Mac Pro, and 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro is billed as the Cupertino giant's most powerful yet after splitting with chipmaker Intel. But even if this rumor is already floating about, there's no guarantee that the Macs are actually going to be released.

Here's a closer look at the rumored Apple M2-equipped Macs:

• MacBook Air M2 codenamed J413 will feature an 8-core CPU and 10-core graphics chip, which is two more than what the current-gen MacBook Air has.

• Mac Mini M2 codenamed J473 will have the same hardware configuration as the aforementioned MacBook Air. Aside from this, there's also a rumored M2 Pro version of this Mac Mini, codenamed J474, undergoing testing as of the moment.

• MacBook Pro M2 codenamed J493 will be entry-level and once again will have the same specs as the first-mentioned MacBook Air.

• 14-inch (codename J414) and 16-inch (codename J416) MacBook Pros featuring two different Apple M2 chips: an M2 Pro and an M2 Max. The M2 Max will have a 12-core CPU and 38-core graphics, and 64 GB of RAM. As for the 16-inch's M2 Max, customers will reportedly get the same specs as the 14-inch.

• Mac Pro codenamed J180 will have the "successor" to the current-gen M1 Ultra SoC, which is what the newly released Mac Studio has.

Despite the rather "detailed" nature of this information, however, the Cupertino tech giant has neither confirmed nor denied the existence of these new Macs in testing. Notably, a company spokeswoman has declined to comment on it when asked by Bloomberg.

So for now, the waiting game begins.

Should You Be Excited For Apple's M2 Chip?

The M1 (and its bigger, more powerful sibling in the M1 Ultra) are already pretty capable chips in their own right. So, what does the M2 series have that you should be excited about?

Performance-wise, the M2 series doesn't seem to offer too much of an upgrade based on early leaked specs. According to Tom's Guide, it could offer a slight uptick from the base M1, but might fall behind than the M1 Pro and M1 Max in terms of real-world grunt.

Numerous leaks also can't seem to agree on how many cores the Apple M2 chip will have. Some say that it will have 8 CPU cores split into four high-efficiency and high-performance cores (indicative of an Arm-based design), and a 10-core GPU. This is enough for it to be stronger than the M1, but still lags behind the M1 Pro and M1 Max theoretically.

As for the release date, leakers are saying that the Apple M2 will launch during the second half of this year.

This article is owned by Tech Times

Written by RJ Pierce