What you need to know
- Apple is said to have new Apple silicon in the works for Macs that could launch next year.
- At least one new iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro are said to be in the offing.
Apple is working on new, high-performance M1successor that will be used in at least one new 2021 iMac, a MacBook Pro, and a new Mac Pro. That's according to a new report by the usually accurate Bloomberg.
Citing people familiar with Apple's plans but unwilling to be named, Bloomberg's report says that entry-level and high-end iMacs are coming as well as upgraded versions of the MacBook Pro. A revised version of Apple's workstation-class Mac Pro is also expected.
Apple's M1 chip was unveiled in a new entry-level MacBook Pro laptop, a refreshed Mac mini desktop and across the MacBook Air range. The company's next series of chips, planned for release as early as the spring and later in the fall, are destined to be placed across upgraded versions of the MacBook Pro, both entry-level and high-end iMac desktops, and later a new Mac Pro workstation, the people said.
A 2021 launch is expected for all of these new machines, although some will have to wait until some time towards the end of the calendar year. It should be worth the wait though, with some machines set to ship with as many as 32 cores.
For higher-end desktop computers, planned for later in 2021 and a new half-sized Mac Pro planned to launch by 2022, Apple is testing a chip design with as many as 32 high-performance cores.
It isn't just the CPU that will be getting a core boost, either. Bloomberg says that Apple engineers are working to improve the GPU performance of Apple silicon by going as far as 32 GPU cores, too.
Apple engineers are also developing more ambitious graphics processors. Today's M1 processors are offered with a custom Apple graphics engine that comes in either 7- or 8-core variations. For its future high-end laptops and mid-range desktops, Apple is testing 16-core and 32-core graphics parts.
Seemingly just doubling and quadrupling numbers, the same report goes on to say that 2022 could even see 128-core chips coming out of Apple's chip teams. Now that would be a sight.
Apple's M1 chips, found in the fanless MacBook Air among other entry-level devices, is already giving some very costly Macs a run for their money. I can't wait to see what the next generation of high-speed, high-energy chips can do to that $50,000 Mac Pro!
