Next-Generation MacBook Pro Models With M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips Reportedly 'Delayed Once Again'

[MacRumors]

Apple's next-generation 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips were slated to hit the market in "early 2023," but the laptops are now expected to be "delayed once again," according to Taiwanese publication DigiTimes.

The report does not offer a revised launch timeframe for the new MacBook Pros. In his newsletter last weekend, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said Apple planned to release the laptops in the first half of this year and said they will have the same designs and features as the current models, but with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. Gurman said those chips will offer only marginal performance improvements over the current M1 Pro and M1 Max.

In late October, Gurman said Apple planned to release the new MacBook Pros in the first quarter of 2023 and had tied the launches to an upcoming macOS 13.3 release, but it's unclear if those plans have changed since then. Based on Gurman's latest timeframe of the first half of 2023, the new MacBook Pros should finally be released by Apple's annual developers conference WWDC in June at the latest, but hopefully sooner.

Apple's chipmaking partner TSMC started mass production of 3nm chips in late December, but reports have conflicted as to whether the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips will be 3nm or remain 5nm like the M1 Pro and M1 Max.

The rest of the report is focused on how MacBook shipments will likely decline 40% to 50% sequentially in the first quarter of 2023, citing unnamed supply chain sources. The report claims that Apple "adjusting its shipment ratios" by adding Wingtech as a MacBook assembler is the primary reason for the substantial decline.

Article Link: Next-Generation MacBook Pro Models With M2 Pro and M2 Max Chips Reportedly 'Delayed Once Again'

 

[t0rqx]

Apple is a mess at the moment.

Update: There is a scheme going on to make the M2 Pro/Max the first M-socs to run xrOS apps. Killing the M1-socs in the proces, to force upgrades again.

 

[UltimateSyn]

If it's just a spec bump and these 3nm chips are already in mass production... I don't get it. And I especially don't get it if the M2 Pro/Max just end up being plain ol' 5nm again.

 

[segfaultdotorg]

Might as well buy an HP. They have touch screens!

 

[CrysisDeu]

Not surprising considering the management (knowing from talking with friends).

 

[munpip214]

Apple's chipmaking partner TSMC started mass production of 3nm chips in late December, but reports have conflicted as to whether the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips will be 3nm or remain 5nm like the M1 Pro and M1 Max.

3nm is probably for iPhones first. With a new process the smaller chip is better until the process matures and then Apple will go for the giant Pro/Max/Ultra dies. These will likely be 4nm. Most likely apple has been hit with various supplier issues in addition to potential software issues.

 

[v0lume4]

It was originally my assumption when Apple switched to their own silicon that their release cadence would ramp up dramatically. I think we all thought it would. And at the beginning, it did. However, things have seemingly slowed to a crawl since Apple completed their M1 rollout. What’s going on?

Edit - I’m going to eat my words a little. Maybe it just feels longer than it has actually been. M1 to M2 was about a year and a half-ish. The M1 Pro/Max to M2 Pro/Max will have been a year and a half-ish. That’s not too bad. Apple has got to stay competitive in performance though. AMD is bringing the heat!

 

[CosmoCopus]

Should have stuck with Intel.

 

[meboy]

Not looking good for the Mini Pro let alone a Mac Studio refresh.

Apple always takes about twice as long as expected based on in the know rumors and three or four times as long as the average tech person's wishful thinking.

 

[v0lume4]

Should have stuck with Intel.

Or switched to AMD!! 🤙🏻

 

[CarAnalogy]

Fine with me. Enjoying my 14” and not looking forward to that day known all too well to Apple fans when it becomes not the current model anymore.

 

[CarAnalogy]

Should have stuck with Intel.

Not for the laptops, absolutely not.

But for the Mac Pro… Now that’s a different story.

 

[ThisBougieLife]

It's those freakin' goggles again, isn't it?

 

[Ulfric]

I was thinking of making a jump to 2nd generation Mac Studio, now that Metal got enough support for Cycles. These days I am only working on Photoshop & Blender, so I thought I could make a jump & it will be fine; my entire set up will be clutter free.
But with how things are going I am not sure anymore. I think I would better jump onto Zen 4 & a GTX 3090 for my new set up.

 

[currentinterest]

Readjusting suppliers was mentioned. All this could mean is one facility has a decline in production but it is picked up by another. Cook had repeatedly, and accurately, warned against jumping to conclusions about Apple’s supply chain based on only a couple data points. My guess is they will launch just as Apple has always intended.

 

[jz0309]

"according to ... Digitizes" - that says it all. Apple is doomed /s

 

[james2538]

Well glad I pulled the trigger on a refurbished 14” last week. It’s a surprisingly huge upgrade from a 2019 16”. Loving the near silence and lack of heat, along with the 120Hz display.

Was originally going to return it if rumors said the new ones were imminent. Guess I’ll keep it lol

These delays are ridiculous though, they should have released something last fall even if it meant 5nm. A spec bump, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3, & HDMI 2.1 would have been a nice update.

Now this refresh (that may not come until WWDC) is gonna be disappointing after the long wait.

 

[StoneJack]

It was originally my assumption when Apple switched to their own silicon that their release cadence would ramp up dramatically. I think we all thought it would. And at the beginning, it did. However, things have seemingly slowed to a crawl since Apple completed their M1 rollout. What’s going on?

Edit - I’m going to eat my words a little. Maybe it just feels longer than it has actually been. M1 to M2 was about a year and a half-ish. The M1 Pro/Max to M2 Pro/Max will have been a year and a half-ish. That’s not too bad. Apple has got to stay competitive in performance though. AMD is bringing the heat!

When M1 was released, two years ago I bought M1 Mac Mini and Macbook air M1. Last year, after release of M2, I bought new Macbook Air M2. I am quite happy with Apple's pace, what I am doing wrong?

 

[bmustaf]

Should have stuck with Intel.

Why? So they could build even bigger heater bricks with even shorter battery with even less control over delivery delays, production issues, and margins?

I am not sure a yearly refresh, while "sexy" is necessary. How many people can *really* say their M1 Max MBPs are not sufficient? I have a 64GB M1 Max 16" and run some heavy workloads for personal and professional needs and it works great.

If I really need tons of compute or GPU or even I/O, a laptop will NEVER do the work and should never, it's just physics. Now the lack of progression on the Mac Pro maybe, perhaps, the valid grip here, but, even then, I am not overly impressed with the high end Mac Studio vs random x86 box story here (but it is more competitive for sure).

Intel's PR is great about posting new "crowns" they supposedly own that are sexy, but in terms of actual integration into usable mobile systems, uh, that's just not credible right now (esp per W perf).

Apple's reality distortion field also is superlative, but the machines are actually incredibly well executed as whole packages and aren't really showing a lot of age yet.

I'd rather see a lot more applications continue to use the power, memory bandwidth, and specialized cores that are there than just continue to scale cores that are already underutilized by most people.

The vast majority of people don't need refreshes every year. Intel's done a brilliant job of convincing people they need to upgrade at every tick, and especially every tock, but that's just not the reality anymore for anyone but a small niche.

 

[tongxinshe]

After switching to in-house CPUs, the update pace actually slowed down, and the performance improvement between two generations is even smaller than Intel.

 

[StoneJack]

After switching to in-house CPUs, the update pace actually slowed down, and the performance improvement between two generations is even smaller than Intel.

I think that battery efficiency is a key parameter here, not pure speed. Intel CPUs are faster but require a lot of energy

 

[b.la]

Apple is a mess at the you can

Apple is a mess at the moment.

While this is accurate, you could change ‘Apple’ to any other company in manufacturing or technology right now and the statement would be true. They’re not immune from the struggles of this industry.

Also, what does everyone want an update for? They already significantly brought forward the power of personal computing with these new line of computers. Maybe not such a mess after all.

 

[iObama]

C’mon, Apple. Lotta misses recently.

 

[matthewlcx]

Actually It is good news. That means M2 Pro and Max may use 3nm N3E rather 5nm or N3.

 

[james2538]

The vast majority of people don't need refreshes every year.

The vast majority of people aren’t upgrading every year. Timely updates are useful for people like me, who just had to buy a 15th month old laptop because my old one broke.