During the WWDC 2023 keynote, Apple introduced several new Macs and finally finished the transition to its own silicon by retiring the 2019 Intel Mac Pro and announcing an M2 Ultra model instead. At that time, the company finished unveiling all M2 Macs, and in October 2023, it announced the first batch of M3 Macs.
Cupertino discontinued the 13-inch MacBook Pro, expanded the 14-inch model from the M3 to the M3 Max chips, and announced a new iMac after 900 days of its first release. Then, by the beginning of March, Apple expanded the lineup with new M3 MacBook Air models. Still, there are even more M3 Macs coming in the near future
There are a few more M3 Macs waiting to be announced
Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman is one of the most reliable sources about Apple’s plans to release new hardware – including new Macs. He was right about Apple readying a few new M3 Macs for a 2023 release. With the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and iMac lineup now available, here are the other Macs users can expect in the coming months and, more specifically, in the first half of 2024.
- Mac mini (codenamed Mac 15,12): Gurman says Apple started testing what seems to be the M3 Mac mini. It includes eight CPU cores, 10 graphic processor cores, and 24GB of memory. This machine runs macOS Sonoma 14.1, but it’s unclear when it could launch. Apple has recently released macOS 14.4 and it’s already testing macOS 14.5.
- Mac Studio: Since Apple updated the M1 Max and M1 Ultra Mac Studio a year after it was unveiled, it seems this machine could see a yearly refresh, with a new model expected around WWDC24. TrendForce seems to reiterate this report; that said, we could see this machine being unveiled on June 10l
- Mac Pro: At the moment, it’s unclear if Apple could introduce a new iteration of the Mac Pro in 2024 or if the company would wait for a redesign to bring a new machine.
Besides these computers, Mark Gurman believes Apple could introduce an iMac Pro or a model with more than a 30-inch display by 2025 or 2026. The Mac Pro and the Mac Studio have been updated during the WWDC, so newer models could be announced at the next Worldwide Developer Conference.
Although we’re not expecting any design change, the M3 family brings important changes to the GPU, which is the same focus of the A17 Pro processor. Features like Dynamic Caching, Mesh Shading for games, and hardware-accelerated ray tracing are the most impressive changes with these chips.
For a broader shift in the Mac lineup, rumors say Apple is planning an OLED MacBook Pro by 2026, and it could even launch a MacBook Air with this panel technology by 2024.
Get to know the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips
Here’s what you need to know about the new M3 family:
M3: Up to 24GB of RAM, 8-core CPU (4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, up to 35% faster than M1, and up to 20% faster than M2). It offers a 10-core GPU, up to 65% faster than M1 and up to 20% faster than M2.
M3 Pro: Up to 36GB of RAM, 12-core CPU (6 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores, up to 20% faster than M1 Pro). It offers an 18-core GPU, up to 40% faster than M1 Pro and up to 10% faster than M2 Pro.
M3 Max: Up to 128GB of RAM, 16-core CPU (12 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores, up to 80% faster than M1 Max and up to 50% faster than M2 Max). It has a 40-core GPU, up to 50% faster than M1 Max and 20% faster than M2 Max.
The M3 Ultra chip has yet to be announced
Apple could be saving the M3 Ultra processor for a new Mac Studio and Mac Pro models. If the company follows the trend, it could have up to 256GB of RAM support, 32-core CPU, and 80-core GPU, as Cupertino usually doubles the power of the MX Max processors.
M4 Macs are already coming
Even though Apple hasn’t introduced all new M3 Macs, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman. says the company is already nearing production of this next generation. The journalist believes Apple will update all of its Macs with the M4 processor, which has an even bigger focus on AI. Below, you can learn more about that. BGR will keep reporting on the latest Mac releases.
