A high-end Mac mini, along with Apple silicon updates to the discontinued iMac Pro and the current Mac Pro, should drop in 2023, not in 2022 as previously thought.
- The iMac Pro won’t be gone forever, according to a reliable Apple analyst, as its successor powered by Apple silicon has been predicted to arrive in 2023. We may not have seen the last of the 27-inch iMac either.
- As for the flagship Mac Pro, Apple should give its powerful workstation a significant boost by swapping Intel chips with Apple silicon. But don’t expect an updated version of the Mac Pro until 2023.
- And lastly, a more powerful Mac mini model powered by unreleased M2 and M2 Pro chips is also expected in 2023, not in 2022.
Where are Apple silicon versions of iMac Pro and Mac Pro?
Apple analysts Ming-Chi Kuo previously said that he expected a new high-end Mac mini in 2022, with Apple silicon updates to the current Intel-based Mac Pro and the discontinued iMac Pro models arriving in 2023. A revised estimate shared on Kuo’s Twitter notes that the analyst now expects all three systems to arrive in 2023:
Mac computers coming in 2023, according to Ming-Chi Kuo:
- An Apple silicon update to the iMac Pro all-in-one desktop
- A successor to the Intel-based Mac Pro workstation
- A new high-end ‌Mac mini‌ powered by Apple M2 and M2 Pro
Apple discontinued the $4,999 iMac Pro in March 2021. Fast forward to March 2022 and there still isn’t a replacement for the Pro-branded all-in-one. Apple never reviving the iMac Pro brand is also a possibility. If this has been Apple’s plan all along, then the company may choose to release an Apple silicon version of the 27-inch iMac, which was discontinued following Apple’s March 8 “Peek Performance.”
[Updated]
2023: Mac Pro, iMac Pro and Mac mini https://t.co/NiloxXy0jv— éƒæ˜ŽéŒ¤ (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 11, 2022
What’s up with a higher-powered Mac mini?
An earlier rumor called for a Mac mini that’d feature a smaller footprint with a plexiglass top. Now, Apple currently sells the M1-powered Mac mini configurations alongside higher-end models which are powered by Intel chips. The rumored high-end Mac mini could use Apple’s unreleased M2 and M2 Pro chips. It’s unclear however whether the company plans to discontinue the Intel-based Mac mini once an M2 update is released. Hint: Apple could keep the Intel model in the family at a reduced price. Read: How to AirPlay to Mac from another device
FYI: Still expecting an iMac Pro, for those wondering. M2 versions of the Mac mini, MacBook Pro 13-inch and 24-inch iMac are also in development.
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) March 8, 2022
What do we know about Apple M2 so far?
The M1 silicon platform is an eight-core system-on-a-chip featuring eight processing cores and seven or eight GPU cores, depending on the configuration. Now, we don’t know anything about Apple’s upcoming M2 chips as of yet but Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has an idea. According to him, Apple should increase the number of GPU cores from seven or eight cores in the ‌M1‌ to nine or ten cores in the M2.
There is no iMac Pro today (was discontinued a while ago), so it would make no sense for Apple to say there is a new iMac Pro coming. They had to say it about the Mac Pro to avoid people believing the Mac Studio (with all of its performance) was the Mac Pro’s replacement. https://t.co/KhsIyviIK6
— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) March 8, 2022
Similar to the distinction between the regular M1 and the more powerful M1 Pro, the rumored M2 Pro chip could boost the number of CPU cores from ten processing cores in the current M1 Pro to twelve cores in its successor. As for the GPU, the M2 Pro should feature a 16-core GPU just like the M1 Pro.