Update: Mac Pro M2 just tipped for 2023 — with 48 CPU cores and 152 GPU cores.
It looks like we may only have to wait just a bit longer for a new MacBook Pro.
In his latest Bloomberg newsletter, reporter Mark Gurman suggests that the new M2 Pro/M2 Max-powered 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro will come out in November — not October. This means that the latest laptops from Apple will not be announced alongside the new iPad Pro 2022, which Gurman tips to come out the week of October 24.
These developments are not shocking, as Gurman points out in his reporting. Apple has a quarterly earnings call on October 27 and will sometimes time product launches to loosely coincide with its earnings report. So launching the iPad Pro alongside that call isn’t a stretch. Apple has also released laptops in November in years past, with MacBook Pros previously launched in November in both 2019 and 2020.
So while not a guarantee, the historical trends combined with Gurman’s track record of successful analysis gives us some confidence for these projected release windows.
macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16.1
In addition to the new hardware, the expectation is that macOS Ventura and iPadOS 16.1 will launch later this year with full support for the new devices. Both operating systems have been delayed since they were announced at WWDC 2022, but now seem to be back on track. Given the projected release windows for the new iPad Pro 2022 models, expect iPadOS 16.1 to launch alongside the two new iPad Pros. macOS Ventura could launch at the same time, but it seems now that it could wait to launch until the new MacBook Pro models are announced.
While macOS Ventura’s issues have flown under the radar, we have had some idea of what may be causing the iPadOS 16 delays. Stage Manager is a new feature on both MacBook and iPad that allows you to organize your apps and windows into a more streamlined experience to improve your workflow. On tablets, it also gives you the ability to push apps and windows onto an external monitor and manage them on that monitor as well.
Unfortunately, it seems this external monitor feature of Stage Manager is what has delayed iPadOS 16 for so long. Apple’s solution appears to have been to remove the feature entirely, though it is expected to bring external monitor support for Stage Manager on iPadOS at a later date.
Projected Apple lineup for the rest of 2022
Gurman’s newsletter lays out a projected Apple lineup for the rest of the year, and it falls largely in line with our expectations. This month we should see a new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro (2022) along with iPadOS 16.1. These two devices are both tipped to come with newer M2 silicon, providing a decent power upgrade for Apple’s powerhouse tablets.
There is also a rumored 10-inch iPad (2022) that could come out at the same time as the rest of Apple’s tablets. This device is rumored to get a USB-C port and transition to a design similar to the iPad Pro, so it will be curious to see if there is a major design update for this iPad compared to the iPad Pro’s rumored unchanged design.
Then in November, we should get the new MacBook Pros and macOS Ventura. These new MacBook Pros are largely unchanged from the 14-inch MacBook Pro (2021) and 16-inch MacBook Pro (2021) other than upgrading the chipset to new M2 Pro and M2 Max silicon. Check out our latest MacBook deals if you don’t need this extreme performance boost, as now could be the best time to get a MacBook Pro at a discount.
Finally, there are some Apple devices in planning that we think could see a 2022 release but don’t have a suggested release date yet. The Mac mini (2022) could give the Mac mini desktop computer a much-needed refresh, so that would be exciting if it comes out this year. There’s also a rumored Apple TV (2022) tipped by Gurman to have an A14 Bionic chipset and 4GB of RAM. While this is a performance upgrade, it remains to be seen if an upgraded chipset will be enough to entice consumers without some complementary feature updates.
