This report corroborates a number of rumors that have surfaced this summer and makes the prospect of an October MacBook release increasingly likely .
Last June, just days after Apple launched the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M2, Bloomberg reported that updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models could ship in early 2023. These MacBooks will likely only be not much different from their predecessors, but they should be equipped with more powerful M2 Max chips with 12 CPU cores and up to 38 GPU cores.
This report also mentions a 15-inch MacBook Air due next spring at the latest and a 12-inch model due in early 2024.
In August, Bloomberg reported that the 14- and 16-inch MacBooks were " well advanced in development and testing " and could be released as soon as this fall. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, another reliable source, also predicted that the products will start mass production in the fourth quarter of this year.
Apple traditionally unveils its new computers in October, and we expect the company to hold a hardware event in Cupertino next month. However, the specific material announced at this event has varied over the years; we got our first look at the M1 Pro and M1 Max MacBook Pro models in 2021, but we might as well see an iMac or Mac Pro this year.
Chips will be 'the main upgrade'
However, these reports of a fourth-quarter release make it seem increasingly likely that Apple will follow last year's schedule and announce new MacBook Pros next month.
MacBook Pros received a major overhaul last year, with the return of MagSafe and a number of ports that had been missing from devices for several years.
We don't expect this year's MacBooks to include chassis changes of this magnitude. Kuo's sources said the new processors will be "the major upgrade" to the MacBook Pro lineup this year . Kuo also predicted that the processors debuting in these machines are unlikely to be the first 3nm MacBook chips, as some rumors have previously indicated. Kuo expects new MacBooks to " still be able to adopt the advanced 5nm node ," meaning they would be built on the same process as recent MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M2 models.