In case you haven’t noticed, you can get a really good deal on the current 14-and 16-inch M1 Pro MacBook Pro laptops, between $300 and $400 off the regular price. Why such big price reductions? Probably because, as has long been rumored and reported again on Friday by DigiTimes, Apple will replace those M1 Pro- and Max-based laptops with new models next month.
According to the report, Apple will ship new MacBook Pros in the fourth quarter of 2022, and while DigiTimes does not state any specifics, it’s likely going to be new 14- and 16-inch models, since they’re almost a year old and the 13-inch M2 MacBook Pro was just released back in June.
The new MacBook Pros are expected to feature the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, which, according to a July report by Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, will feature boosted graphics performance. In August, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted that the M2 Pro and Max probably won’t be 3nm chips, as some projected. Apple’s new iPhone 14 Pro uses a A16 chip made with what Apple calls a “4nm process,” but is really a third-generation 5nm high-performance process for chip manufacturer TSMC. So we could see Apple tout this 4nm process for the M2 Pro and Max as well.
The 4nm process would also allow for improved CPU performance, but it could be a marginal upgrade, similar to the 8 percent improvement we saw between the A15 (5nm) and A16 (4nm) in the iPhone 13 Pro and 14 Pro, respectively. The 4nm process could also mean better battery life.
The new MacBook Pro models will probably have the same design, ports, and display (including the notch) as the current models. This design is in its first year and was a major revamp from previous laptops that had fewer ports, bigger bezels, and smaller batteries. It’s also expected that Apple will continue with the current configuration of function keys atop the keyboard–the Touch Bar is probably not coming back and will remain a feature of the 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Numerous reports have said that Apple will have another event after the recent iPhone 14 and Apple Watch event. This fall event is expected to reveal new MacBook Pros, a new Mac Pro, a new Mac mini, and new iPad Pros. The event could happen in October as the holiday shopping season gets underway.