[Technology] A high-end M2 Pro Mac mini is reportedly among the nine new Macs in the works

 


Apple is working on a bunch of Macs with next-generation Apple silicon

Those machines apparently use four different variants of the M2 chips

At least two new Macs could drop in the summer, maybe at the WWDC

 

Check out some of the  M2 Macs in the works

That’s according to a new report from Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, who has learned that Apple is working on at least nine new Macs powered by the tentatively named M2, Apple’s second-generation custom silicon. Apparently, the company has created four variants of the M2 chips to power those Macs being developed.


The company is testing at least nine new Macs with four different M2-based chips—the successors to the current M1 line—with third-party apps in its App Store, according to the logs, which were corroborated by people familiar with the matter. The move is a key step in the development process, suggesting that the new machines may be nearing release in the coming months.


Some of the new computers being tested include:


MacBook Air

Codenamed J413, the next MacBook Air will run an M2 chip with eight processing cores and ten graphics ones, up from eight graphics cores in the current model.


Mac mini

Codenamed J473, the next Mac mini will have the same specifications as the M2-powered MacBook Air. This is probably a baseline model that will replace the current M1 Mac mini from the lineup. Apple is also looking to replace the high-end Intel-based Mac mini with a variant powered by an M2 Pro chip, codenamed J47 (that one was apparently referenced recently in Studio Display firmware).


According to the report:


Apple is also testing a Mac mini with an M1 Pro chip, the same processor used in the entry-level 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros today. That machine is codenamed J374. The company has tested an M1 Max version of the Mac mini as well, but the new Mac Studio may make these machines redundant.


Makes sense to us.


Baseline MacBook Pro

Apple is also testing an entry-level MacBook Pro with an Apple M2 chip, codenamed J493, which should have the same specs as the upcoming M2 MacBook Air.


14-inch MacBook Pro

Codenamed J414, the next 14-inch MacBook Pro would offer configurations based on Apple’s M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The M2 Max apparently sports 12 processing cores and 38 graphics cores, up from ten processing cores and 32 graphics cores in the current 14-inch MacBook Pro, and up to 64 gigabytes of unified memory.


16-inch MacBook Pro

Codenamed J416, the largest MacBook Pro would, of course, also utilize Apple’s upcoming M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The M2 Max version of the notebook will reportedly sport the same CPU and GPU specifications as the 14-inch MacBook Pro.


Mac Pro

Codenamed J180, this machine will include a successor to the M1 Ultra chip used in Apple’s recently launched Mac Studio. The current Mac Pro workstation uses high-end Intel Xeon chips and powerful AMD graphics. Based on what Apple has demonstrated so far with the Mac Studio, an Apple silicon version of the Mac Pro should outperform the current Intel version by a significant margin but we’ll have to reserve our final judgment until we see what an Apple silicon Mac Pro is capable of.


Are there any new M1 Macs coming in 2022?

It doesn’t sound like Apple will be releasing any new M1-powered Mac, and that’s how it should be. There’s a slim chance that Apple could keep some of the M1-based Macs in the lineup when their M2-based successors are released, possibly at a lower price, but that’s unlikely to happen. Like with Intel-based Macs, new models will simply replace the previous ones in the lineup at the same price, offering shoppers more bang for their buck. Read: 33 things to do after setting up your new Mac

Gurman is less specific when it comes to launch timeframes. In his earlier report, Gurman said at least two new Macs would be coming during the summer, possibly at the WWDC. One of those systems could easily be the next MacBook Air, Gurman said, which would make sense as the MacBook Air is Apple’s most popular notebook.

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