Report: Apple is Currently Testing 9 New Macs Using M2 Chips

In recent weeks, multiple reports have been suggesting that Apple was gearing up to release new Apple Silicon Macs using next-generation M2 chips. Today, a new report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reveals that Apple is currently testing no less than 9 different M2 Macs that have been spotted in developer logs.

“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,” Gurman wrote.

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Here are the nine different M2 Macs that have Apple is currently testing internally:

Mac Mini: Apple is testing a new model with an M2 chip with eight CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, as well as an “M2 Pro” model with an unknown amount of CPU and GPU cores.

MacBook Air: A single M2 model is being tested using the same chip as the one in the M2 Mac Mini.

MacBook Pro: An entry-level model is said to be using the same M2 chip as the upcoming MacBook Air and Mac Mini. There are also new 14” and 16” MacBook models using “M2 Pro” and “M2 Max” chips, with the latter featuring 12 CPU cores and 38 GPU cores.

Mac Pro: This is the only Mac model that has yet to make the transition to Apple Silicon, and the logs reveal that the new model being tested uses a successor to the M1 Ultra chip found in the new Mac Studio.

According to Bloomberg, Apple may also not be done releasing new Macs with M1 chips. “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,” explained Gurman. “The company has tested an M1 Max version of the Mac mini as well, but the new Mac Studio may make these machines redundant.”

The MacBook Air, 13.3” MacBook Pro, and Mac Mini haven’t been updated since November 2020, and Bloomberg believes that they will be the first models to be refreshed with M2 chips in the coming months. The M2 MacBook Air is also expected to be completely redesigned with a slimmer body, MagSafe charging, as well as new color options similar to what Apple introduced on the M1 iMac line. 

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Conversation 35 comments

  • iAlrakis

    Premium Member
    15 April, 2022 - 1:57 pm

    <p>I’m wondering how long this will be exciting news. There was a time when introducing new processors for the iPhone and iPads every year was a normal thing. This is exactly the same.</p>

    • lvthunder

      Premium Member
      15 April, 2022 - 2:21 pm

      <p>It’s always news when Apple does this stuff. It will stop when people stop using Apple products.</p>

    • nkhughes

      15 April, 2022 - 4:21 pm

      <p>It’s already too long if you’re trying to sell WOA.</p>

  • mebby

    15 April, 2022 - 2:38 pm

    <p>well Apple did invent the CPU so we should always scream with joy (every year) when the bring out the new magic…</p>

  • Donte

    15 April, 2022 - 10:01 pm

    <p>Apple rumors are a dime a dozen. My favorite time is after an event when cult members are bummed. out because 70% of the rumors were not true. </p>

    • Jeffsters

      18 April, 2022 - 8:08 pm

      <p>Agreed! Apple is doomed! Doomed!</p>

  • davepete

    16 April, 2022 - 2:57 am

    <p>Sounds good to me. I was getting tired of Intel making no progress for years at a time.</p>

  • RobertJasiek

    16 April, 2022 - 3:51 am

    <p>Whether MacBook Air with M2 will be an advantage depends on whether battery life will be shorter, equal or longer. Another rumour claims a white notch for the MacBook Air. A notch would destroy this product, for which otherwise everything else is acceptable (16:10) to very good (noise), except for the tiny arrow keys, bad repairability and price increments.</p>

    • Donte

      16 April, 2022 - 8:47 am

      <p>I have the 16inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro, work provided, and that notch has to be the dumbest thing on any Apple</p><p>device ever. </p><p><br></p><p>If it did Face ID it might make a difference. </p>

    • rob_segal

      Premium Member
      16 April, 2022 - 10:44 am

      <p>A notch won’t destroy the MacBook Air. That’s an overreaction. It’s something most Mac users will quickly get used to, especially considering that’s where the menu bar is. A notch didn’t hurt the excellent new MacBook Pros.</p>

      • RobertJasiek

        16 April, 2022 - 11:52 am

        <p>Notch destroying a display is precisely how I perceive it so I don’t buy any device with a notch. If it should be the only objection to buying a device, it is nevertheless a sufficient reason. You write that most Mac users quickly become used to a notch but everybody with a perception like me simply does not become a Mac with notch user at all.</p>

        • bkkcanuck

          16 April, 2022 - 1:51 pm

          <p>Notch on my m1 max Macbook pro… is never noticeable. My menu bar moved up, leaving more real estate in the main window, my menu bar is black… the camera is black…. I really really have to focus on the area to even notice.</p>

          • Donte

            18 April, 2022 - 3:49 pm

            <p>As soon at you have an app that has enough menu columns that is splits them on either side, or even has some covered up by the notch…you will notice it.</p>

            • pecosbob04

              18 April, 2022 - 5:38 pm

              <p>Splitting on either side of the notch would not bother me a lot, though sub-optimal. But I have to ask, does that happen a lot on your 16" M1 MBP (work supplied)? What software does that occur with? Does the menu bar adjust font size and / or spacing before performing the splits? Just curious.</p>

        • nbplopes

          16 April, 2022 - 7:02 pm

          <p>To each their own. I don’t buy any device that takes a second to open the file manager while on battery .. aggressively caping performance to meet the 18 hours battery life in the leaflet.</p><p><br></p><p>Battery life of the M1 is excellent. What will be interesting to see is if Apple can keep the same battery life while increasing its notable performance even more. Which they can taking advantage of 3nm processes and all.</p>

          • wright_is

            Premium Member
            17 April, 2022 - 2:32 am

            <p>It is based on the same base technology as in the current iPhone 13 series (A15 processor). This provides more performance per watt than its predecessor, actually extending battery life, according to who’s review you read.</p><p><br></p><p>At the "worst", it should provide more performance for the same battery life.</p>

            • nbplopes

              17 April, 2022 - 6:33 am

              <p>A couple of weeks ago had a Surface Studio top of the line with 32GB, Windows 11 and all along with an MBP M1 Pro with 16GB … I have direct first hand experience with both.</p><p><br></p><p>What I mentioned is from that work experience and it’s just the tip of it.</p><p><br></p><p>Returned the Surface Studio 3 days after. The decision was no way near a matter of preference … </p><p><br></p><p>Cheers.</p>

              • nbplopes

                17 April, 2022 - 6:35 am

                <p>Meaning I can live with the notch but not with the inefficiency of the Studio.</p>

                • nbplopes

                  17 April, 2022 - 6:37 am

                  <p>Also the MBP display quality as well as sound is at another league.</p>

        • pecosbob04

          17 April, 2022 - 8:36 am

          <p>Maybe your perception is the problem or perhaps just a reluctance to have an experience that conflicts with your pre-conceived notions of perfection. Seriously the menu bar on a Mac makes the notch a big nothingburger.</p>

          • RobertJasiek

            17 April, 2022 - 9:24 am

            <p>My perception is clear. The standard shape of a display is a rectangle. A rectangle with a cutout is a non-standard, flawed, imperfect, unnecessarily complicated, functionally seriously restricted shape. Replace shape by painting, page, video frame or photo and the problems are the same.</p><p><br></p><p>Attempts of justification (menu bar without bugs, extra real estate, not noticing the presence of the present) after the fact miss the point, which is the (missing) clarity of the standard shape.</p>

            • pecosbob04

              17 April, 2022 - 11:44 am

              <p>My perception of your perception that your perception is clear, is that your perception is biased by your perception of standard Mac screen layout as being perceived as being imperfect by a perceptibly large segment of the pertinent customer base. This alone does not make you a bad person.</p>

              • RobertJasiek

                17 April, 2022 - 2:07 pm

                <p>My perception of information-providing devices precedes my first use of a computer 4 decades ago and is derived from sheets of paper (single, in books, newspapers, journals, photos, art etc.), displays of TVs etc. Since I started using computers etc., my perception is also derived from their displays. And it was all fine and well and always the same: a rectangular shape. Functionally very good for providing information. So my perception was very firmly developed long before Macs spread and years later before destructions or deformations of new displays were sold as "features".</p>

                • pecosbob04

                  17 April, 2022 - 5:22 pm

                  <p><br></p><p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">"My perception of information-providing devices precedes my first use of a computer 4 decades ago and is derived from sheets of paper (single, in books, newspapers, journals, photos, art etc.), displays of TVs etc."</span></p><p><br></p><p>An appeal to expertise based on old age? Really! I’m pretty sure I have you beat there. By the way (very) early TVs were more round than rectangular. My point is things change I learned to print on landscape oriented low quality lined paper with a pencil. Later I wrote on portrait oriented unlined paper with a pen. Later still I switched to a typewriter and so on until today when I mostly use a rectangular display and keyboard. That display contains a "notch" in an area of the display that does not interfere with the information carrying part of the display and that notch provides functionality not normally associated with a display. </p><p><br></p><p>Aha but I paid for the full display area and I expect to be able to put pixels in that notch area. Well, I have spent many an hour writing on and reading from yellow and / or white ‘legal’ <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">pads.</span> Never once have I found a way to successfully use that perfectly good paper surface above the perforations but under the binding. I feel robbed. </p><p><br></p><p>I just get the feeling that you have never spent sufficient time using a device with the notch to make an informed decision about a product that otherwise you seem to feel might be a good option. But hey, like the kidz say, "You do you."</p>

  • will

    Premium Member
    16 April, 2022 - 10:50 am

    <p>This will be a modest update I would guess, the bigger improvements would come from some graphics bump over the current generation. </p><p><br></p><p>It is a bummer that it took Intel several years to realize they were behind with Apple. This sort of sounds like a similar situation with Microsoft when the iPhone &amp; iPad launched?</p>

  • L Gilles

    16 April, 2022 - 12:08 pm

    <p>I can see a Mac Pro with a new chip (M2 ultimate with 4 dies or something bigger and stronger), I wouldn’t expect a new Mac mini with M2, mini with M1 pro maybe as an option, this device doesn’t get updates often, I guess there’ll be a entry level MBA with M1 and a new one with the new M2 chip, then the MBP. I love my basic M1 MBA just warming up a bit with no sound while encoding a video, transferring GB on wifi and playing a video.</p><p><br></p>

    • L Gilles

      16 April, 2022 - 12:10 pm

      <p>I forgot, downloading torrents also.</p>

    • bkkcanuck

      17 April, 2022 - 3:42 am

      <p>I think you will start getting processor bumps more often, with the MacBook Air, and MacBook Pro getting more regular bumps (along with the equivalent Mac Mini and Mac Studio versions)… and then slightly longer cadence on the Mac Studio and Mac Pro… Once they get all the enclosures moved to their new designs, then each new ‘core’ design can be integrated in, as well as taking advantage of each die shrink as that happens… can be done much quicker… and the enclosure revisions can be staged over longer term periods of 5 to 7 years…. I think you will see a much more regular upgrade schedule once everything has been moved over. It has finally brought a bit of excitement back to the Mac platform… a far change than 5 to 7 years ago when Apple’s commitment seemed to be lacking.</p>

  • Brett Barbier

    17 April, 2022 - 8:16 am

    <p>One thing I haven’t seen rumored are new Macs with cellular connectivity as an option. </p><p><br></p><p>regarding the notch, if the notch infringes into the 16:10 screen real estate, that is a bad thing. If however they keep a notch-free 16:10 display, and then extend the top of that upwards by some small number of pixels to allow for the menu bar to be nested up there, on either side of the camera, then that is fine – that give you more useable screen space for applications to use (since the menu bar is no longer using any of the 16:10 real estate.</p>

    • Stabitha.Christie

      19 April, 2022 - 10:48 am

      <p>I doubt you will see Macs with cellular capabilities. Having to pay Qualcomm 5% of revenue on Macs pretty much does that feature in. </p>

  • RobertJasiek

    18 April, 2022 - 1:31 am

    <p>@pecosbob04 (The reply button below your message is missing so I cannot reply directly below it.) <em>"you have never spent sufficient time using a device with the notch to make an informed decision about a product"</em></p><p><br></p><p>I have never spent 1 second using a device with a notch. I need not try out to make an informed decision because I know that trying out would result in multiplied disgust. Permanent use would result in permanent, utter disgust. (Besides, I perceive the outer panel rectangle as reduced by a notch – I do not perceive the inner panel rectangle as enlarged by display areas left and right of a notch.)</p><p><br></p><p>"<em>that otherwise you seem to feel might be a good option."</em></p><p><br></p><p>Not a good option but something that could be a good option if the arrow keys had full size, the display was matte, my desired software would be available for MacOS as well as it is available for Windows, the device would be very well repairable, battery replacement would be easy, very long available and cheap, Apple replaced its anti-repair lobbying by support of right to repair laws, and Apple replaced the harm, which I have explained in great detail before, it has been and – now much more than ever before – is imposing on me for i(Pad)OS devices by unobstructed and lawful usability one expects from any OS.</p><p><br></p>

    • pecosbob04

      18 April, 2022 - 7:11 am

      <p>Okay, You’ve convinced me. Apple products may not be right for you. Curious though what laptop do you use that fits your criteria?</p><p>Full sized arrow keys</p><p>Matte display</p><p>Runs all required software</p><p>Very well repairable</p><p>Easily replaceable battery</p><p>And (I assume) Light and inexpensive?</p><p><br></p><p>On another note, as you pointed out my post has no <strong>Reply</strong> option. I assure you that is not my doing (at least not knowingly). I wonder if I have somehow offended the THURROTT.COM PTB (Powers That Be). I have been known to do that from time to time. The site’s forum and comments sections are always an adventure in usability. But I understand there is light at the end of the tunnel. Wonder what that light is attached to?</p><p><br></p>

      • pecosbob04

        18 April, 2022 - 7:30 am

        <p>My <strong>Reply</strong> button appears to have returned. Weird</p>

      • RobertJasiek

        18 April, 2022 - 8:05 am

        <p>As to the Reply button, it might be a case of limiting the depth of replies so as to avoid too narrow texts, which is an advantage competing with the aforementioned disadvantage. Now to your questions as to what notebook I might buy.</p><p><br></p><p>Usually, I prefer displays in portrait position, for which I use a desktop monitor and tablet. Ca. 1993 – 2000, I had notebooks with 4:3 display. Today, if available and I need a notebook, I would again prefer 4:3 (or even 5:4), else 3:2. The 3:2 offers are very limited so I might have to accept 16:10 if I can accept this compromise with most other features being ok. However, 16:9 is simply unacceptable for a notebook.</p><p><br></p><p>I need either a desktop with RTX 3080 or faster, or a notebook approaching such speed for a machine learning application. (However, I need only little VRAM. RAM is more important but working RAM slots would do.)</p><p><br></p><p>My other important criterion is noise. For a desktop, I would achieve 37dB if only GPUs were available at reasonable prices. Current notebooks with fast enough RTX tend to be (way) too loud so the realistic plan is to buy a desktop or notebook with RTX 4000 series (next generation). Then a notebook with fast enough GPU should be possible with reasonable noise. I am aware that I might have to accept 39 ~ 43dB on such a notebook using suitable fan settings. Judging from earlier notebooks, this is technically possible but I need to await whether all manufacturers fail in their insane pursuit for "thinner and lighter than ever before". Current fast notebooks tend to be in the 45 – 60dB range under load, except for literally a few notebooks with Nvidia A series GPUs at prices north of €5000 (you guess it, this is too much).</p><p><br></p><p>A mandatory criterion is ordinarily sized arrow keys and extra page navigation keys. I absolutely need them because I use them up to 10,000 times per day, especially when using a machine learning application. (A Num block helps but is not that essential for a GPU-driven notebook. On my desktop keyboard, it is also essential though.)</p><p><br></p><p>For a notebook or tablet, a matte display is very highly desirable, but I might accept particularly good reduction of reflectance of a glare display at sufficient brightness. (For my desktop monitor, matte is mandatory.)</p><p><br></p><p>At the very least, all software must run at all and fast that I want to use on the notebook and for that I would buy it. In particular, this includes the machine learning application. (Current Mac Studio are roughly like 680M or RTX 3050 for that purpose but that might change for the next generation(s) of Apple chips.)</p><p><br></p><p>Repairability and battery replacement are important but in the current market situation of almost all manufacturers fighting against consumer rights and the EU still in discussion I need to make some compromise or buy a desktop (whose compromise is the missing mobility).</p><p><br></p><p>Light and inexpensive are nice-to-haves but currently for a fast GPU computer improper and unrealistic. Considering just these two features, MBP 16" M1 Pro, desktop €2000 or (just as example of reasonable form factor) a 17" Alienware are references for how not too thin devices should be and what order of price level is expected (if GPUs are sold at OEM MSRPs).</p>

  • j5

    Premium Member
    18 April, 2022 - 6:03 pm

    <p>Palpatine voice: <em>yes let the Apple hate of any Apple news flow through your veins…then complain about Microsoft not being able to do the things that Apple does hahahaha!</em></p>

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