'Scary Fast' Rumor Report Card: New MacBook Pros and iMac

[MacRumors]

Apple announced three new devices during its "Scary Fast" event on Monday, including updated 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and 24-inch iMac models, all with M3 series chips. Apple did not announce any other products during the 30-minute event, which was likely the company's final presentation this year.

Below, our latest rumor report card provides a look at which rumors were right and wrong or a mix of both following Apple's event.

Accurate

• Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple would likely hold a Mac launch event on October 30 or October 31.
• Gurman said the new 24-inch iMac would skip the M2 chip and go right to the M3 chip.
• Gurman revealed several accurate CPU core counts, GPU core counts, and RAM amounts for the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips in the new MacBook Pro models.
• Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo and Gurman both ruled out new iPads for the rest of 2023, and this event indeed lacked any iPad announcements.
• The box for the new MacBook Pro leaked on Chinese social media website Weibo.

Inaccurate

• MacRumors discovered that an Apple supplier resubmitted a sixth-generation iPad mini battery filing in a Chinese regulatory database last week, and speculated about the possibility of a seventh-generation iPad mini using the same battery being announced at the event, but this did not happen.
• Gurman reported that Apple would likely announce updated versions of the Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad for the Mac with USB-C ports for charging, but the accessories are still equipped with Lightning.
• Japanese blog Mac Otakara believed that the next 24-inch iMac would be equipped with M2 and M2 Pro chips, but it has the M3 chip.

Mixed

• Kuo initially claimed that new MacBooks with M3 series chips were unlikely to launch this year, but he later reversed course and said new MacBook Pro models with M3 series chips would be announced at the event.
• Gurman initially claimed that new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models were on track to launch in early to spring 2024, but he later reversed course and said that the laptops would be announced at the event.
• MacRumors was one of the first sources to report that at least one new Mac would be announced in October, based on expected Mac trade-in changes, although our November 8 launch date prediction was one day off.
• MacRumors published a report speculating that Apple's event would likely have an emphasis on high-end gaming on the Mac. The new M3 series chips for the Mac do feature hardware-accelerated ray tracing for improved graphics rendering in games, as the report mentioned, but the unconfirmed tip that we mentioned about the event having a Japanese developer tie-in was inaccurate.

Undetermined

• Prior to the event, Kuo said the 24-inch iMac would be updated in 2024, but he did not explicitly rule out a new model in 2023.

Article Link: 'Scary Fast' Rumor Report Card: New MacBook Pros and iMac

 

[t0rqx]

Didnt we had an article earlier discussing this?

 

[ccsicecoke]

I believe M3 was originally scheduled for 2024 but rushed into 2023 for some reason

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I believe M3 was originally scheduled for 2024 but rushed into 2023 for some reason

They wanted to get M3 out there after Qualcomms Snapdragon event last week I think

 

[jz0309]

They wanted to get M3 out there after Qualcomms Snapdragon event last week I think

I don’t think so, a product launch like yesterday takes months …

 

[DFZD]

In unrelated news Jon Presser has shaved his eyebrows again.

 

[ghanwani]

I was accurate by correctly predicting it wouldn't be exciting. I don't think Apple as it is now is capable of producing anything exciting.

 

[GMShadow]

Prior to the event, Kuo said the 24-inch iMac would be updated in 2024, but he did not explicitly rule out a new model in 2023.

A reach so good that Stretch Armstrong is impressed.

 

[privaterbok]

Nobody talk about the most inaccurate leak was cheapest MacBook/Air will start with 12G ram?
Turns out even a M3 8G + 512G config deserve $1600 in Apple's eye.
There is absolutely 0 chance Apple will bump it's barebone ram spec to 12G let alone 16G like everyone else.

And even 12G seems a far reach for Apple, next spec bump might be 10G on 2025. They might even pay a fortune to manufactures keep produce low density ram and ssd chips.

 

[Realityck]

I was accurate by correctly predicting it wouldn't be exciting. I don't think Apple as it is now is capable of producing anything exciting.

The 14"/16" MacBook Pros and the 24" iMac really didn't change any existing features, so yes people might not find the event exciting. Just new SoC's being substituted. So the only thing I was excited about was the M3 family now offered GPU based mesh shading and ray tracing, and hardware supported AV1 support for all the chips. We can ignore the anticipated bluetooth, and Wifi updates.

 

[Born Again]

Macrumors can we stop giving these fools free advertisement to post useless rumors?

Btw you’re missing the grade for these clowns.

Its an F. Hope you are reading this Gurman.

 

[Mrkevinfinnerty]

I don’t think so, a product launch like yesterday takes months …

Does it? 30 minutes pre recorded no actual audience.

The hardware has obviously been in the works for ages but does it take months to put that out now rather than in January?

 

[now i see it]

post useless rumors?

Rumors are what keep the hype train running all year long. As worthless as they are (and they really are worthless) zillions of people lap them up like chocolates. It’s all good fun.

 

[XboxEvolved]

Translation, they were fed bad info, and Apple is starting to get back some of that mystery they once had, before they become the most valuable company in the world, they controlled whole supply chains, and they had more eyes on them. Good on Apple to at least make this somewhat a surprise. I do think the event was mostly directed towards PC people and intel Mac users. Nothing in the presentation made me think “man I am really missing out”

 

[btrach144]

Gurman got so much wrong. As always

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I don’t think so, a product launch like yesterday takes months …

...but they kept it secret from the main sources of rumors until about 10 days ago?

Kuo couldn't sniff new M3 Macs available immediately throughout the supply chain? Gurman "no new Macs until 2024" didn't get a reliable hint from his sources until about 10 days ago? No boxes, no parts, no "new case color" pics, etc. until last few days?

I'm doubting there was months behind this. I lean my (admittedly wild guess) to it being more mad scramble than strategically planned months ago. If I was to bet, I would bet maybe about 21 days. I imagine they plotted early iPhone 15 demand for a few weeks and decided they needed "all hands on deck" MORE... and rolled out what they had most ready to launch (and even in that M3 MAX still needs a few weeks).

Else, Apple has finally achieved "doubled down" security to keep it all so secret until the last few days.

 

[TrenttonY]

They get a C- from me.

 

[corinthos]

My boy Ming Chi Kuo slippin!

 

[ghanwani]

I'm doubting there was months behind this. I lean my (admittedly wild guess) to it being more mad scramble, than strategically planned months ago. Else, Apple has finally achieved "doubled down" security to keep it all so secret until the last few days.

Because there were no fingerprints on the space black device that leaked, they weren't sure if it was real.

 

[GMShadow]

...but they kept it secret from the main sources of rumors until about 10 days ago?

Kuo couldn't sniff new M3 Macs available immediately throughout the supply chain? Gurman "no new Macs until 2024" didn't get a reliable hint from his sources until about 10 days ago? No boxes, no parts, no "new case color" pics, etc. until last few days?

I'm doubting there was months behind this. I lean my (admittedly wild guess) to it being more mad scramble, than strategically planned months ago. If I was to bet, I would bet maybe about 21 days. I imagine they plotted early iPhone 15 demand for a few weeks and decided they needed "all hands on deck" MORE... and rolled out what they had most ready to launch (and even in that M3 MAX still needs a few weeks).

Else, Apple has finally achieved "doubled down" security to keep it all so secret until the last few days.

I think it's easier to slip stuff through the supply chain when it's just gut swaps, rather than new designs.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Yes, but there was a new color, port changes, port subtractions... all prime stuff to sneak a picture to confirm a new MB was incoming. Even looks-the-same iMac had to have an uptick in new orders to get them M3s in there (supply chain would notice after so long with only M1 production... and presumably suspended M1 production some amount of time ago to sell out of or sell down M1 inventory).

To be available immediately, these Macs had to be boxed at least days ago, but probably at least a couple of weeks ago. Yet, nobody offered a picture of anything other than the front of a box picture that showed that desktop image (that was generally doubted as legit:"maze game", "back of my fridge", "space heater", etc).

 

[topmounter]

The timing and limited scope of this ‘Scary Fast Spec Bump’ event doesn’t make much sense unless Apple is actually feeling pressure from Qualcomm.

 

[Two Appleseeds]

Did anyone predict space black?

 

[minik]

Even I won't be purchasing any of the announced products from yesterday evening, I felt like it's a great livestream and sort of in line with the rumors for the Mac. People who are still using Intel Mac can take a look of the products with M3 chip, they can also get the nine or ten months old M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pro with discount.

Really wish they update the iPad line up before the holidays.

 

[jz0309]

...but they kept it secret from the main sources of rumors until about 10 days ago?

Kuo couldn't sniff new M3 Macs available immediately throughout the supply chain? Gurman "no new Macs until 2024" didn't get a reliable hint from his sources until about 10 days ago? No boxes, no parts, no "new case color" pics, etc. until last few days?

I'm doubting there was months behind this. I lean my (admittedly wild guess) to it being more mad scramble than strategically planned months ago. If I was to bet, I would bet maybe about 21 days. I imagine they plotted early iPhone 15 demand for a few weeks and decided they needed "all hands on deck" MORE... and rolled out what they had most ready to launch (and even in that M3 MAX still needs a few weeks).

Else, Apple has finally achieved "doubled down" security to keep it all so secret until the last few days.

prepping the event doesn't take long, sure, but having the products ready, the supply chain ready, and actual production... the M3 chips were started in TSMC likely in June/July at the latest ... plus, Max is a superset of Pro is a superset of M3, launching them at the same time, they were not all 3 taped out at the same time ...
I think it was planned to launch before eo year, and yes, I do believe they are getting a hand on their leakers ...

But then again, we'll likely never find out