We've been expecting Apple to release a fresh batch of Macs before the end of this year going by existing rumors. But now comments from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and Apple's own execs have challenged that outlook.
Per his latest Power On newsletter, Gurman says the next batch of Mac refreshes won't come until the first quarter of next year, led by the MacBook Pro with M2 Pro in 14-inch and 16-inch guises. This replaces his previous claim that we'd see these new laptops in November.
It sounds like these new laptops, which would replace the existing 14-inch MacBook Pro 2021 and 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021, could appear at Apple's spring product launch event, which normally takes place in March each year. That would also fit with the release of the major updates to macOS Ventura (13.3) and iOS 16 (16.3), which are slated for a February or March debut too according to Gurman.
A refreshed Mac mini is still on the way, apparently being tested with the same Apple M2 chip seen in the MacBook Air M2, 13-inch MacBook Pro 2022 and new iPad Pro 2022, as well as a version with a more powerful Apple M2 Pro chip, the same as we expect for the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros.
Gurman adds that we'll also finally see an Apple Silicon-powered Mac Pro desktop tower appear next year. This is the final Mac still available only with an Intel CPU, and will no doubt replace the Mac Studio as the new most powerful computer in Apple's line-up.
Beyond Gurman's claims, it seems like Apple CEO Tim Cook himself has hinted that there are no more big announcements coming from Apple in 2022. During the most recent Apple quarterly earnings report (via AppleInsider), Cook mentioned going into the holiday season "with our product lineup set," which you can interpret as meaning there won't be any new devices launching between now and the Black Friday period.
Also, Apple's CFO Luca Maestri forecast that the first quarter of 2023 would be a slow growth period for Apple compared to the previous year, in part because the same period in 2022 "had the benefit of the launch and associated channel feel of our newly redesigned MacBook Pro with M1." He doesn't say outright there will be no equivalent MacBook launch this year, but it's a reasonable conclusion to draw.
If there are indeed no new Macs coming in the next few months, the bright side is that you can start picking out which of the best MacBooks or best computers made by Apple you want to look out for during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Keep it locked to TG over the next few weeks and we'll make sure to inform you of the best offers on Apple gear as well as everything else we spot that's a great deal.
