Considering M1 has been out for almost a year. Wouldn’t this years release be an M2 for the baseline macs and M2x for the higher end ones?
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Wouldn’t this years silicon not be called M2 and M2x?
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Short answer is, we will know on Monday.
I guess they may need a way to differentiate both "power" and "generation". What you suggest is what the did for iPhone / iPad.
But they may regard the new CPU-cores to be essentially generation "1" with focus more on GPU and other stuff on the SoC (display channels, memory ...). One suggestion that I personally like is to just use another letter, some people have suggested "P" to keep the consumer and "pro" line more separate.
I assume that they will not update all Mac every year so they may want a naming convention that "hides" the age.
Whatever it cannot be worse than Intel naming of their CPU.
I guess they may need a way to differentiate both "power" and "generation". What you suggest is what the did for iPhone / iPad.
But they may regard the new CPU-cores to be essentially generation "1" with focus more on GPU and other stuff on the SoC (display channels, memory ...). One suggestion that I personally like is to just use another letter, some people have suggested "P" to keep the consumer and "pro" line more separate.
I assume that they will not update all Mac every year so they may want a naming convention that "hides" the age.
Whatever it cannot be worse than Intel naming of their CPU.
What makes you assume that they won't update the Mac lineup every year?
Don't u see them releasing a new Mac based on each year's iphone's a- bionic chip?
No, not if we consider all Mac models. I believe that would be too big an effort and that they will stagger releases.
The naming scheme is solely determined by the marketing department -- so the name essentially does matter. Therefore, nobody should really care.
Someone can check me on this, but I'm almost certain that the "X" chips used in iPads almost always were released a few weeks/months after the "normal" A chip variant in the iPhone. For example, the A5X in the iPad came out a few weeks after the A5 in the iPhone. Therefore, it would seem odd to me if Apple revives the "X" moniker in the same chip family a year later, so I'm thinking it won't be called the M1X, but just my two cents.
I'm hoping there is an M2 for the MBA and Mini, and the current MBP goes away due to the introduction of the new MBP. The current 13" M1 MBP will be in an awkward position after the new MBP is introduced, since there is really no advantage it holds over the MBA with the exception of marginally better battery life, touch bar (may go away any way in new MBP's), and slightly brighter screen, all of which could be translated into the MBA with the M2 refresh. Then there will be the M2X for the MBP. There were rumors of a Mini with the MBP chip too, so perhaps an M2 and M2X Mini? Personally, I don't see Apple offering the M2X chip in a $699 package.
That only leaves the larger iMac and Mac Pro left to be moved over to Apple Silicon. I suppose Apple could move the larger iMac over to the M2 or M2X, but the Mac Pro may not be ready yet.
It would be odd to only see new MBP's at Monday's event. Can they really spend 1-2 hours on just one product? There isn't much else to talk about since the new software was already announced and the phones and watches are out. Beyond the MBP and other potentially refreshed Macs if they update the M1 chip, the only other products I could see would be an update to the iPad Air since that hasn't been updated for a year.
I'm hoping there is an M2 for the MBA and Mini, and the current MBP goes away due to the introduction of the new MBP. The current 13" M1 MBP will be in an awkward position after the new MBP is introduced, since there is really no advantage it holds over the MBA with the exception of marginally better battery life, touch bar (may go away any way in new MBP's), and slightly brighter screen, all of which could be translated into the MBA with the M2 refresh. Then there will be the M2X for the MBP. There were rumors of a Mini with the MBP chip too, so perhaps an M2 and M2X Mini? Personally, I don't see Apple offering the M2X chip in a $699 package.
That only leaves the larger iMac and Mac Pro left to be moved over to Apple Silicon. I suppose Apple could move the larger iMac over to the M2 or M2X, but the Mac Pro may not be ready yet.
It would be odd to only see new MBP's at Monday's event. Can they really spend 1-2 hours on just one product? There isn't much else to talk about since the new software was already announced and the phones and watches are out. Beyond the MBP and other potentially refreshed Macs if they update the M1 chip, the only other products I could see would be an update to the iPad Air since that hasn't been updated for a year.
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Well, M1 is de-facto an "A14X" (there is reason to believe it was it's internal codename all along), so it's not like this is a hard rule.
There will likely be an "M2" launched this year based on the A15 and used in the 2022 MacBook Air. However, this will offer less CPU (8 v 10) and GPU (8/10 v 16/32) of the Apple Silicon SoC ("M1X") going into the MacBook Pro 14 and 16 launching next Monday and which will likely be used in a more powerful Mac mini model and the replacement for the iMac 5K.
There has not been any data about an "M2X". The Apple Silicon Mac Pro's rumored CPU and GPU configurations are said to be 20/64 and 40/128 and there claimed internal code names are of the same family as the "M1X".
Correct as far as I remember. I think though that A10X got 10 nm node before the A11 and that was the only time the X chips was technologically before an A chip.
The number should be the architecture generation and the moniker should define the performance bracket. M2X, M2P, M2 Pro or similar seems likely if it is based on A15. Monday will get us clarity.
You'd think if the M2X/M2P (whatever) is based on A15, which is coming out next week, and the A15 was just released to the iPhones, then fingers crossed they have the M2 waiting in the wings to refresh the non-pro Macs this fall...
Only time will tell. Intel gave CPU updates every 12-18 months, which found their way into Apple's Macs (excluding the Mac Pro, which has been an oddball forever) along the same cycle. Apple updates the silicon in their iPhones and Watches annually, and iPads are on ~18 month cycle. If Apple wants to really gain a competitive advantage in the computer space, resting on their laurels and updating the chips every 2+ years is not the way to do that.
Marketing names aside I see 2 possibilities:
1: they finally got the A14 based many core chip ready that really should have debuted in spring -> M1x
2: they did a fresh start based on A15 cores ->M2(x)
The 13MBP will stay for a while and it's future depends on how big that 14" is really gonna be as I expect both 13" Laptops to be replaced by a new line of MacBookAir (or maybe just MacBook) sometimes next year, maybe in 2 sizes. 1 the same size as the small MBP and another with same size as the 12" MB (only with smaller bezels making it 12.5).
If the 14" MBP is really just 14" we might have a situation where the big Air is bigger than the small Pro, but who knows....
1: they finally got the A14 based many core chip ready that really should have debuted in spring -> M1x
2: they did a fresh start based on A15 cores ->M2(x)
The 13MBP will stay for a while and it's future depends on how big that 14" is really gonna be as I expect both 13" Laptops to be replaced by a new line of MacBookAir (or maybe just MacBook) sometimes next year, maybe in 2 sizes. 1 the same size as the small MBP and another with same size as the 12" MB (only with smaller bezels making it 12.5).
If the 14" MBP is really just 14" we might have a situation where the big Air is bigger than the small Pro, but who knows....
If they have M2(x) ready, then perhaps we see a refresh of the entire lineup [omitting desktop pro]. MBA and mini get M2, pro versions get X (or whatever the upgraded versions are identified as). This would follow more in line with how they do iPhone announcements, and would streamline their release schedule --- iPhones get A series updates, Macs get M series updates, every year. Would be neat to see them release iMac and Mac Pro updates on Monday as well, although I see that as quite a long shot. In any case, I'm satisfied with the performance of my 16" for now -- I just covet those not burning their thighs and being able to detach from a charger all day...
I agree. I think Apple has gone the direction of liking things nice and neat in recent years. They've aligned their software releases, and the iPhone and Watch releases (except SE). Macs and iPads are still kind of all over the place, but with iPad getting iPhone or Apple Silicon chip, and Apple Silicon Macs being dictated by Apple and not Intel's release schedule, hopefully their is more of a cadence going forward.
Above all else, I agree it would be a lost opportunity to not at least update pricing or the base memory or storage in the M1 Macs if they don't get a refresh.
Possible, but would run against Apple's past chip strategy where the base model launches first, then higher-core count models launch later. And that A15 itself is launching with different core counts in different models of iPhone and iPad Mini makes me believe TSMC is seeing yield issues and Apple is having to bin chips. As such, offering A15s with 2x to 4x more CPU/GPU cores right now strikes me as unlikely.
“Pee“ doesn‘t strike me as a good name 
But Q is a cool letter, similar to X.
So M is baseline.
Q is for the higher end.
X is for the highest and extreme end.
But, you know, Apple‘s marketing department makes the weirdest decisions … We will see on Monday
In the end, I don‘t care about the names as much as about the performance and the prices It will definitely be interesting to see if the chips are based on the A14 or A15.
But Q is a cool letter, similar to X.
So M is baseline.
Q is for the higher end.
X is for the highest and extreme end.
But, you know, Apple‘s marketing department makes the weirdest decisions … We will see on Monday
In the end, I don‘t care about the names as much as about the performance and the prices
It will definitely be interesting to see if the chips are based on the A14 or A15.Maybe they’ll just call it the new M1 for every generation and variant. That would show us!
Because M1X is most likely based on M1/A14.
Look at the performance increase between A14 and A15. It's largely efficiency improvements (battery life) and GPU performance. The first largely benefits iPhone, while the second isn't a showstopper Apple probably didn't want to wait for the A15 design for 14/16-inch MacBook Pro. If it weren't for mini LED and other component shortages, the new computers would have probably launched earlier this year.
Look at the performance increase between A14 and A15. It's largely efficiency improvements (battery life) and GPU performance. The first largely benefits iPhone, while the second isn't a showstopper Apple probably didn't want to wait for the A15 design for 14/16-inch MacBook Pro. If it weren't for mini LED and other component shortages, the new computers would have probably launched earlier this year.
There are only two reasonable naming schemes:
- M1X/M1Z
- Completely different name (P1? X1? Z1?)
The naming scheme of the A-series processors goes like this: A#bionic/fusion/whatever for the regular, iPhone processor; A#X for the first generation of the same processor with boosted GPU+CPU+RAM; A#Z for the second generation of the same processor with boosted GPU+CPU+RAM.
For example: A12 Bionic in the Xs, Xs Max, and Xr; the A12X in the iPad Pro released that year; the A12Z in the next generation of iPad Pro.
I’m assuming that the chip in the new MacBook Air (if one gets released) will be the A12 Bionic of the Apple silicon macs, the M2. The boosted version would be called the M2X (again, just speculation). This processor might be in a new Mac Mini or 13”/14” MacBook Pro. If they did a later release, or a super powerful chip release, with a double boosted version, I’d assume that it would be called the M2Z. This would be in a 16”/17” MacBook Pro (or maybe a new iMac Pro or Mac Pro?!).
Please correct me if I’m wrong about the naming, but this is what I think it is. M2<M2X<M2Z
For example: A12 Bionic in the Xs, Xs Max, and Xr; the A12X in the iPad Pro released that year; the A12Z in the next generation of iPad Pro.
I’m assuming that the chip in the new MacBook Air (if one gets released) will be the A12 Bionic of the Apple silicon macs, the M2. The boosted version would be called the M2X (again, just speculation). This processor might be in a new Mac Mini or 13”/14” MacBook Pro. If they did a later release, or a super powerful chip release, with a double boosted version, I’d assume that it would be called the M2Z. This would be in a 16”/17” MacBook Pro (or maybe a new iMac Pro or Mac Pro?!).
Please correct me if I’m wrong about the naming, but this is what I think it is. M2<M2X<M2Z
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