A new report from a respected Apple insider shows that the company is planning to release a bunch of new Macs and MacBooks in 2023, including a Mac Pro, iMac, and two MacBook Airs.
While the rumors of a new iMac and Mac Pro make a lot of sense, since those are two products that haven’t been updated in a while, it’s suggested that there will also be a new MacBook Air soon. MacBook Air (M2, 2022) Release is more trouble.
Let’s start with the good news (assuming this report is accurate). Mark Gurman, writing for Boomberg (opens in a new tab), claims the 2023 24-inch iMac is in advanced development. Keep the same design (including popular color schemes) as before iMac (24-inch, 2021)This new version will apparently receive an update to its hardware, with the 2021 model’s M1 chip being upgraded to the M2 – or even the as-yet-unreleased M3 chip.
According to Gurman, there will also be other internal changes, mainly to the layout of components. While he’s not speculating, this could help improve airflow to keep new hardware cool.
As I mentioned, it all makes sense. With the last iMac coming out two years ago and the M1 being superseded by the M2, now seems like the right time to update the iMac – especially since Gurman hinted that we won’t see a new iMac. on shelves until the second half of this year.
Finally, a Mac Pro may be on the way
Gurman also said that Apple will finally release the new Mac Pro in 2023, and it will be the first of Apple’s super-powerful desktop workstations to be powered by Apple’s own chips, after parting with Intel.
Again, this makes sense, as the Mac Pro is one of the few Mac products (along with the 27-inch iMac and iMac Pro) that still haven’t had a new release powered by Apple silicon. With the last Mac Pro released in 2019, this is a product that can really do with an update.
Rumors suggest it will also feature the extremely powerful M2 Ultra chip, with 24 CPU cores, 76 GPU cores, and support for up to 192GB of memory.
We haven’t heard anything about the M2 Ultra chip yet, but if Apple uses the same design as the M1 Ultra (launched with MacStudio in 2022), there will likely be two M2 Max chips combined via an ultrafast connection to essentially form one large, extremely powerful chip.
I can certainly see this happening and a new Mac Pro would be an ideal product for a chip of this caliber. So far, Gurman’s rumors about Apple’s 2023 Mac plans sound promising. However, there is also some news that I am not very satisfied with…
Annual MacBook Air? No thanks
According to Gurman, Apple is also planning to release not one, but two MacBook Air in 2023. The news is more confusing because the latest model, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022), is less than a year old and comes with a major redesign and new M2 chip.
According to Gurman, Apple will release a new 15-inch MacBook Air this year. While I’m not too convinced a MacBook Air with a larger screen will be what many people are asking for (part of the MacBook Air’s appeal is how thin and light it is, and the larger screen can affect to its portability), at least one model with a larger screen will distinguish it from last year’s model.
However, Gurman suggests that there will also be a new 13-inch MacBook Air coming in 2023, likely using the M3 chip. This is where I start to get concerned, as such a move would mark a transition to the annual upgrade cycle for Apple’s M chips. The M1 launches in 2020 and the M2 launches in 2022, and that’s a reasonable gap. However, in my experience, the M2 chip doesn’t deliver the generational leap that may make owners of M1-enabled Macs, such as the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) feel the need to upgrade and that might happen. even more if Apple switches to annual upgrades.
I can see why Apple might be intrigued by this. The MacBook Air was a huge hit, and the company has been releasing new, updated iPhones every year for years. However, while some people may agree with the idea that their iPhone will become obsolete in 12 months, the same schedule may not be suitable for MacBook owners.
There will almost certainly be people who have purchased the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) who will feel a bit uncomfortable if Apple releases the updated MacBook Air M3 soon after, especially if Apple launches it with a series of claims about the machine how much better. M3 is compared with M2.
This annual cadence could also affect other Apple Macs – as Gurman suggests, if the M3 launches at WWDC 2023 (a year after the M2 launches), the M3 Pro and M3 Max will arrive in 2024 in the new MacBook Pro.
That might even upset more people, as people invest in top-of-the-line MacBook Pros with the assumption that they’ll stay cutting edge for a while. Of course, releasing M3-enabled versions doesn’t make their M2 purchase obsolete, but it probably won’t discount the price too well either.
So if Apple thinks that since they can release annual updates to their iPhones, they can do the same with MacBooks, I’m not so sure. I certainly wouldn’t upgrade every year, and I wouldn’t like to feel like my expensive new MacBook is out of date in less than a year.
