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Apple's 'M2' Next-Gen Mac Chip Enters Mass Production, Expected to Debut in Redesigned MacBooks Later This Year

reyesmac said:
Now the real game begins. An m1 mac can be had for as low as $800. Will an m2 be only a $1,000 more or can it only be had at a higher starting price?
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Well, I would expect that the new machines also feature XDR and more RAM, so I would expect definitely a significant step in terms of starting price.
 
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I was expecting the M to match the A chips. So since we get a new A chip every year i expect the M2 to be the A15 then just scaled with more cores and features.

So i was expecting

A14 for iPhones/iPads
M1 for entry level Mac's and iPad Pro
M1x for higher end Macs like the 16" or an option on the 13"
M1z for Mac Pro

Then

A15 for iPhones/iPads
M2 for entry level Mac's and iPad Pro
M2x for higher end Macs like the 16" or an option on the 13"
M2z for Mac Pro

That to me would be the best way to name things, maybe even more in between processor/core options. But this is Tim Cooks Apple and product naming has been messed up under his leadership. New iPad anyone instead of an iPad 3? iPhone SE when SE already exists. Pro shoved on everything.
 
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ChromeCloud said:
Apple just announced the iMac with the M1 processor. It makes no sense to release an M2 processor in the next months.
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There is always a "JohnyComeLate" for every cycle as the other option would be dropping all products at once when a new generation of chips becomes available.

Apple has been updating their core architecture once a year for quite a while and named them according to these generations as as Axx chips.

The M1 is a bunch of A14 cores with some extra stuffed needed for running a full computer and unless Apple plans to skip the A15 cores for Macs it seem obvious a new chip would be called "M2". Wether that will come in a config similar to the M1 or only as something bigger is to be seen.

But going back to your "it makes no sense" statement, I do see a clear possibility that there were M1X engineering samples destined for bigger MBP and iMacs that just got canceled (several months ago) when it became clear that the M2 chips would follow shortly after.

Also remember that TMSC's refined process seems to be done be retrofitting the existing 5nm fabs so the overall production of A14/A15 and M1/M2 chips is capped by the number of waivers these can handle.
 
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All larger than 27+ inch iMacs will come with the same chip, regardless how they name it. It makes no sense to use M1 as an entry level, because there is no Intel price difference to pay. On the contrary, the more M2 chips they can sell the cheaper they become. Apple will create higher price points with additional RAM, SSD and color options. Just as they did with the 24" iMac which goes from $1.299 to $1.699 on basically the same chip (with one less GPU-core for the entry level).
 
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camsoft said:
By that example, customers will be disappointed after every purchase because a year later a better version will come out.

In fact, I think current-gen M1 machines are probably going to disappoint the least due to the jump in performance vs value. I don't think future M chip-based machines will have quite the same advantage as the transition did on the current generation.

I'm very happy with my M1 and it does everything I ask of it, I don't see a reason to need an M2 or M3 at this time in the same way I probably don't need a new iPhone every year because they are all so fast now.
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I agree with this! It will give consumers exhaustion dropping the macs into the same endless A,S chip cycle as iPhone, Watch etc. All for 30%, 40% faster or whatever they quote it to be. Every 2 years would be adequate if the gains were enough to really warrant upgrading.
 
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bklement said:
But kinda makes the iMac redundant. With intel macbook air/ pro 13 had the worst sustained performance, then mini with integrated graphics as cheap desktop entry, then imac with dedicated graphics. Now all four are the same except a fan. A desktop should be more powerful, configurable with more ram, have more ports. Imac delivers neither. It's only purpose is to push the price of the real entry imac with better chips much higher. It would be better if Apple made the imac's display as a thunderbolt monitor without the chin, then one could use it with a macbook or mini with a single cable.
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This iMac has higher CPU performance than the previous one (including much higher single-threaded performance than any iMac Pro), and its GPU performance is about on par with the previous $350 Vega 20 option. It's plenty powerful.

As for configurability… it's an iMac. It's not like, 23 years after the iMac was introduced, it's a shocker that an all-in-one computer doesn't exactly focus on configurability.
 
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bklement said:
I've bought the Air as an ultraportable typewriter/thick client and as a cheap testbed whether apple silicon works for me. The pro won't do that better, and I highly doubt that this m2 (or rather m1x) will ever go into the Air. But who knows, I didn't expect them to degrade the imac into an "unportable macbook air", yet they did.
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Yep - they totally ‘degraded‘ the replacement iMac 21.5. Bigger, better screen, slimmer more modern design, much more powerful processor and compute system in general, better graphics. What awful compromises.
 
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Are they going to release a new M Chip every year like the iPhone Chips? Bit concerned things might start slowing down yearly. I've seen the speed difference between the iPhone X / XS and the 12 Pro. The speed between my friends 5 year MacBook Pro and my latest gen MacBook Pro minimal when it comes to things like word/email/safari etc
 
One step closer to finding out if Apple is planning a design overhaul of their MBPs :cool: .
 
businessnumbersmoneypeopl said:
If the processors are ready in sufficient amounts in July, why do you think they would sit on them until October? This is not a rhetorical question, maybe there's something here I haven't thought about.
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Because it would cut into their current M1 sales/profits. Starve the masses (or excite) enough and they will buy. Apple knows what they are doing....
 
I think the naming will go one of two ways:

1) There will be a new core technology every year - for 2021 likely A15 and M2 (based on the A15 cores) - with a variety of CPU and GPU cores running a different speeds (iPhone<iPad<Macbook<desktop). Macs will be updated so that high end Macs (Mac Pro, 27"+ iMac, 4-port MBPs) and iPad Pro get the current year chip and low end Macs (MBA, 2-port MBP if it survives, 24" iMac) and lower down iPads get the previous years chip.

2) As above, but the low end Macs will get the M2 and the high-end Macs will get the M2X chip

I don't think this will sort itself out until next year at least due to the staggered Mac launches. No point launching an M1X MBP in July if the A15 comes out in September and smokes it in single-core performance (as has been seen with the iPad a few times). Once all the M-chip Macs are launched, expect the naming convention to establish at the 1st round of refreshes.
 
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