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 chip, and announced a new iMac after 900 days of its first release. That said, there are several more M3 Macs ready to be unveiled in the coming months. Here’s when to expect each of them.
When is Apple planning to unveil new M3 Macs?
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 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.
- 13-inch MacBook Air (codenamed Mac 15,1 and J513/J613): it was last updated in June 2022. Gurman says this device is on an engineering verification test, which means a new version could be scheduled between the spring and summer of next year at the earliest.
- 15-inch MacBook Air (codenamed Mac 15,2 and J515/J615): It seems Apple won’t unveil a new 15-inch version just yet, as the company unveiled this model in June 2023; that said, a new version could be scheduled for between the spring and summer of next year at the earliest.
- 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.
- 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;
- Mac Pro: at the moment, it’s unclear if Apple could introduce a new iteration of the Mac Pro in 2024 or if Apple 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 take at least another year to be unveiled.
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 and Mesh Shading for games 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.
