Samuel Axon
A new report from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman identifies several new Macs coming to Apple’s lineup in the coming months, largely reinforcing previous reports from analysts and speakers, as well as previous reports from Gurman. Gurman credits third-party application developer logs containing evidence of Apple engineers or testers using the new Macs to verify that they work with popular software before release.
The most obvious Mac in these logs is a long-rumoured 15-inch MacBook Air. It’s labeled “Mac 15.3” and it has the same screen resolution as the 14-inch MacBook Pro (3024×1964). The laptop appears to have 8 GB of RAM and a chip with eight CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, exactly the same as many M2 Macs already on the market.
Gurman also reports that Apple is preparing an M3 chip to debut in the near future – no surprise, of course. He claims the M3 will move to a new 3-nanometer manufacturing process (it was 5nm for the M2), just like the chip coming to 2023 flagship iPhones. While he doesn’t specify which ones will come with the M3 and which will come with the current M2, he writes that Apple is also working on updates to the 13-inch MacBook Air, the 24-inch iMac and, surprisingly, the 13-inch inch MacBook Pro.
Air and iMac refreshes are a given, but surprisingly Apple keeps the 13-inch MacBook Pro alive. It uses an old design, including the otherwise outdated Touch Bar above the keyboard, and in our reviews and buying guides we’ve struggled to recommend it over the more modern but similarly performing 13-inch MacBook Air and the significantly more powerful ( and also more modern) 14-inch MacBook Pro.
Gurman doesn’t specify if the 13-inch MacBook Pro will get a redesign or if it will still look and feel the same. That said, he predicts Apple will introduce M3-based refreshes to the 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in the first half of 2024, about a year after the M2-based refreshes.
Bloomberg’s report comes in the context of Apple’s serious Mac sales decline; IDC data showed shipments fell more than 40 percent in the first quarter. The entire PC market has suffered a downturn as a boom in the middle of the pandemic fizzled out, but Macs were far from immune, even if they sometimes follow a different path in the market than other machines.
The article didn’t specify prices or launch dates for the forthcoming 15-inch MacBook Air or the first wave of M3 Macs — just their existence.
