Following today's announcement of a new M2 Pro Mac mini, which replaced the previous Intel-based model in the lineup, the Mac Pro is now the only Mac in Apple's current product lineup that still uses an Intel processor.
The previous Mac mini lineup consisted of an M1 Mac mini, announced in November 2020, and the now-discontinued Intel-based model. Apple said in June 2020 that its transition to Apple silicon would take around two years, and while Apple has transitioned the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, and now the Mac mini to its own processors, the Mac Pro has yet to make the switch.
Apple's vice president of hardware engineering, John Ternus, teased at the company's March event that a new Apple silicon Mac Pro is still in the works. Currently, the highest-end Apple silicon Mac in the lineup is the Mac Studio configured with the M1 Ultra chip. Apple is rumored to announce an Apple silicon Mac Pro sometime this year, but despite speculation, the new model will feature the same design as the 2019 computer.
Apple today announced updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros powered by "the most powerful and efficient" Apple silicon chips yet, the M2 Pro and M2 Max.
The new MacBook Pros represent a minor upgrade from the previous models announced in October 2021 but still bring several notable new features and changes. Below, we've outlined five of the most interesting tidbits you need to know about the new Mac laptops.
Space Gray models of the new MacBook Pro now come with a Space Gray color-matched MagSafe charging cable, unlike before. Previously, Space Gray models would ship with a silver MagSafe cable.
For the first time in a Mac, the MacBook Pros and the updated Mac mini support the Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 standards. Both new improvements will improve connection reliability and performance, particularly in high-density areas.
Alongside new chips, the new MacBook Pros also include an updated HDMI port that now supports HDMI 2.1. HDMI 2.1 will allow the MacBook Pro to run a display up to 8K resolution at 60Hz.
Thanks to the improved performance of the M2 Pro and M2 Max, the new 16-inch MacBook Pro features up to 22 hours of battery life – the longest battery life ever offered in a Mac.
Previous-generation MacBook Pros were only configurable to up to 64GB of unified memory. However, the new M2 Max chip allows customers to configure their MacBook Pro with up to 96GB of RAM.
The new MacBook Pros start at $1,999 and are available for pre-order starting today on Apple's online store. Both the updated MacBook Pros and Mac mini will begin arriving to customers on Tuesday, January 24.
Apple today announced refreshed 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max Apple silicon chips, and when configured with the highest specs, the new machines come with higher price tags than the machines they replace.
The 14-inch model starts at $1,999, while the 16-inch model starts at $2,499. Both starting prices remain unchanged from the previous-generation models, but there are more significant upgrades available depending on the model, and that's where the differences emerge.
A fully maxed 16-inch MacBook Pro now tops out at $6,499, featuring a top-of-the-line M2 Max chip with 12-core CPU and 32-core GPU, 96GB unified memory, and 8TB SSD. The previous-generation M1 Max model topped out at $6,099 but only came with a maximum 64GB of unified memory.
The latest 14-inch MacBook Pro models can be customized with the same specs as the new 16-inch machine. A 14-inch MacBook Pro with M2 Max, 96GB of unified memory, and 8TB SSD is priced at $6,299, up from $5,899.
Pre-orders for the new MacBook Pro models started today and the first machines will be arriving to customers next Tuesday. Fully customized and upgraded MacBook Pro models won't ship out until February.
Verizon today has one of the first best prices of 2023 on Apple's AirPods Pro 2, available for $199.99, down from $249.00. This price is just about $2 away from the best price we ever tracked on the accessory.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Verizon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Although they were around $197 on Woot for Black Friday, that sale was very rare and disappeared quickly. The $199.99 price tag has been the most consistent deal on the AirPods Pro 2, and as of today only Verizon is offering the sale with all other retailers having ended their promotions.
Until now, both MacBook Pro models maxed out at 64GB of memory when equipped with the previous-generation M1 Max chip. With the introduction of the M2 Max processor with a 12-core CPU and 38-core GPU, Apple's latest Macs now offer up to an additional 32GB of unified memory capacity.
Otherwise, memory bandwidth is unchanged from the M1 Pro and M1 Max models, remaining at up to 200GB/s for the M2 Pro chip and up to 400GB/s for the M2 Max chip.
Customers can order the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro via Apple's online store starting today, with availability beginning Tuesday, January 24. Pricing starts at $1,999 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and at $2,499 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple today announced updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros and an updated Mac mini, with faster and more efficient performance thanks to new M2 chips. All new Macs announced today are available for pre-order on Apple's online store starting today, with shipments arriving on Tuesday, January 24.
The new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros come with the all-new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, which offer improved performance and battery life over their predecessors for workflows such as video editing and graphic design.
Apple today also updated its Mac mini with the M2 and all-new M2 Pro chips. The updated Mac mini has the same design as the previous generation, but comes with faster performance and additional Thunderbolt ports for models configured with the higher-end M2 Pro processor.
The new Mac mini starts at a lower price of $599, while the updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro start at $1,999 and $2,499, respectively.
After weeks of rumors and speculation, Apple announced an updated Mac mini with the M2 and M2 Pro chips today. The new Mac mini has the same design as previous models, but comes with several additional features and changes.
Below, we've outlined a few of the most notable new features, changes, and details regarding the new Mac mini.
M2 models of the new Mac mini come with 8GB of unified memory as standard, but can be configured with 16GB or 24GB memory options. Mac mini models with M2 Pro come with a standard 16GB of unified memory, with an option to upgrade to 32GB of memory.
M2 models of the new Mac mini come with 256GB of SSD storage with 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB options. M2 Pro models come with 512GB of storage as standard and options of 1TB, 2TB, 4TB, and 8TB.
Mac mini models with M2 Pro support up to three external displays, with two displays at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one additional display of up to 4K resolution over HDMI. With one display connected to the Mac mini, it can support up to 4K resolution at 240Hz over HDMI.
Mac mini models with M2 Pro come with two additional Thunderbolt 4 ports on the back. Both the M2 and M2 Pro models have an Ethernet port, HDMI, two USB-A ports, and a headphone jack.
For the first time in a Mac, the new Mac mini and MacBook Pro support Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
The new Mac mini, alongside the updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, are available for pre-order starting today and will begin arriving to customers on Tuesday, January 24.
Previously on the 2021 MacBook Pro models, the HDMI 2.0 port only supports a single 4K display with a refresh rate of up to 60Hz.
But the more advanced HDMI port on the new MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips means they now provide support for 8K displays up to 60Hz and 4K displays up to 240Hz.
The new MacBook Pro models also feature Wi-Fi 6E for faster wireless connectivity, along with three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an SDXC card slot, and MagSafe 3 charging.
Customers can order the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro via Apple's online store starting today, with availability beginning Tuesday, January 24. Pricing starts at $1,999 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and at $2,499 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple's new 16-inch MacBook Pro model features up to 22 hours of battery life – the longest battery life ever offered in a Mac.
Both of the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models offer one additional hour of battery life over their predecessors, rising from 17 to 18 hours on the 14-inch model and 21 to 22 hours on the 16-inch model. For comparison, both the M1 and M2MacBook Air offer 18 hours of battery life, while the 13-inch MacBook Pro offers 20 hours of battery life.
While the new MacBook Pro models have the same battery capacities as their predecessors, Apple says that the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips deliver improved efficiency to prolong battery life and reduce the energy they consume over their lifetime compared to the M1 Pro and M1 Max chips from the previous generation.
Following the announcement of the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, updated 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and a new Mac mini, Apple today shared a mini keynote-styled video on YouTube detailing the latest Macs and the new chips.
The video, 18 minutes long, features Apple's senior vice president of hardware engineering John Ternus and other Apple executives in Apple Park offering a presentation on the latest Macs. The video is similar to the digital online events Apple has held in the past but coincides with announcements of new Macs via press releases on the company's website.
Up until today, Apple continued to sell a high-end Mac mini with a 3.0GHz 6-core 8th-generation Intel core i5 chip, 8GB RAM, Intel UHD Graphics 630, and 512GB SSD. Pricing started from $1,099.
That base model has now made way for a Mac mini with a 10-Core Apple M2 Pro processor with a 16-Core GPU, 16GB of unified memory, and 512GB of storage. Pricing starts from $1,299.
The Mac Pro is now the only Intel-powered machine that Apple sells, as the company continues with its transition to Apple silicon.
Apple has also stopped listing Mac mini models equipped with its M1 processor, having now replaced its lineup with M2-powered machines.
The new Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro are available for pre-order today and will begin shipping next Tuesday, January 24.
Apple today announced an updated Mac mini powered by the new M2 and the all-new M2 Pro chip, offering faster performance in the same design as the previous generation but starting at a lower price of $599.
Apple announced the M2 chip in June at WWDC, building on the performance of the M1 processor from November 2020. Apple today expanded the M2 lineup with the new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The updated Mac mini comes with M2 and M2 Pro chips, which according to Apple, offer significantly faster performance than the previous generation.
M2 Pro brings pro-level performance to Mac mini for the first time. Featuring up to a 12-core CPU with eight high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores, along with up to a 19-core GPU, M2 Pro has 200GB/s of memory bandwidth — double the amount in M2 — and supports up to 32GB of memory. The next-generation Neural Engine is 40 percent faster than M1, speeding up ML tasks like video analysis and image processing. Designed to dramatically accelerate video playback and encoding while using very little power, M2 Pro offers a powerful media engine, which speeds through the most popular video codecs and can simultaneously play up to five streams of 8K ProRes 422 video at 30 fps, or up to 23 streams of 4K ProRes 422 video at 30 fps. The M2 Pro-powered model is up to 14x faster than the fastest Intel-based Mac mini.
The new Mac mini features the same design as before, with no changes despite rumors suggesting a complete redesign. For Mac mini models with M2 Pro, users have access to four Thunderbolt 4 ports compared to only two on models with M2. On both chip configurations, the Mac mini comes with an Ethernet port, HDMI port, two USB-A ports, and a headphone jack.
The new Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro are available for pre-order today and will begin shipping next Tuesday, January 24.
Apple today announced the next-generation 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with faster 5nm-based M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, up to 96GB of RAM, an upgraded HDMI 2.1 port with support for an 8K external display, faster Wi-Fi 6E, and more.
The new M2 Pro chip features a 10-core or 12-core CPU and offers up to 20% faster performance than the M1 Pro chip, according to Apple. The chip also has a 16-core or 19-core GPU that delivers up to 30% faster graphics performance over the M1 Pro, while the 16-core Neural Engine is up to 40% faster compared to the previous generation.
The M2 Max chip has a 12-core CPU that is up to 20% faster than the M1 Max chip, and it has up to a 38-core GPU, according to Apple. With the M2 Max chip, the new MacBook Pro is now up to 6x faster than the fastest Intel-based MacBook Pro for some tasks.
Both new MacBook Pro models are now available with up to 96GB of unified memory when configured with the highest-end M2 Max chip. By comparison, the previous models were available with up to 64GB of memory with the M1 Max chip. Memory bandwidth is unchanged at up to 200GB/s for the M2 Pro chip and up to 400GB/s for the M2 Max chip.
The notebooks can be configured with up to 8TB of SSD storage, which is unchanged from the previous generation.
The new MacBook Pro models support Wi-Fi 6E, which allows for faster wireless connectivity and lower latency over the 6GHz band. The previous 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models were limited to Wi-Fi 6, which operates over the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands.
An upgraded HDMI 2.1 port on both new MacBook Pro models supports one external display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz, or 4K resolution at 240Hz.
Apple advertises the new 16-inch MacBook Pro as having up to 22 hours of battery life per charge, which it says is the longest battery life ever in a Mac. The new 14-inch model is advertised with up to 18 hours of battery life. This is one extra hour of battery life for each model compared to the previous generation, per Apple's tech specs.
The new MacBook Pro models have the same design as the previous generation, including a Liquid Retina XDR display with a notch, an all-black keyboard housing, three Thunderbolt 4 ports, an HDMI port, an SD card slot, a 3.5mm headphone jack, MagSafe 3 for charging, a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, and a six-speaker sound system.
Customers can order the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro via Apple's online store starting today, with availability beginning Tuesday, January 24. Pricing starts at $1,999 for the 14-inch MacBook Pro and at $2,499 for the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The M2 Pro chip is built using a second-generation five-nanometer process and offers 20 percent more transistors than the M1 Pro and double the amount in the M2 chip. Multithreaded CPU performance is up to 20 percent faster than that of the M1 Pro, and Apple says some apps like Photoshop and Xcode can run heavy workloads substantially faster. It also offers 200GB/s of unified memory bandwidth and up to 32GB of memory like its predecessor.
The M2 Pro's GPU can be configured with up to 19 graphics cores – three more than in the M1 Pro – and it includes a larger L2 cache. As a result, graphics are up to 30 percent faster than with M1 Pro.
The M2 Max chip features the same 12-core CPU as the M2 Pro, but offers a more powerful GPU with up to 38 cores and a larger L2 cache. The chip offers graphics speeds up to 30 percent faster than the M1 Max. M2 Max also contains 10 billion more transistors than the M1 Max and can be configured with up to 96GB of unified memory. Apple says that the M2 Max is the world's most powerful and efficient chip for a pro laptop.
The chips are also more power efficient and enable better battery life on the new 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. Both chips include Apple's next-generation 16-core Neural Engine, dedicated media engines, next-generation image signal processor for improved noise reduction and better camera quality, and next-generation Secure Enclave.
Apple's online business-to-business store has gone down as rumors swirl about a new product announcement from the company later today via press release. Apple's main consumer-facing online store remains functional as of writing.
Apple's exact announcement(s) if any remains to be seen, and topic might end up being something unrelated to new Macs.
In addition to M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, the new MacBook Pros are rumored to feature Wi-Fi 6E and faster RAM, but no other major changes are expected. Apple completely redesigned the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro in October 2021, and it's common for the same design to be used for multiple generations, so only a spec bump is expected.
We'll have full coverage of Apple's announcement(s) today if any, so keep checking back for the latest coverage throughout the day.
Google is working on its own location tracking tag to compete with Apple AirTags and Tile trackers, according to developer and leaker Kuba Wojciechowski (via The Verge).
The developer claims to have discovered references to the upcoming first-party tags in Google's Fast Pair method for quickly pairing nearby Bluetooth devices. The device is said to be codenamed "Grogu," after the baby Yoda character from "The Mandalorian" Star Wars series, and is being developed by the Google Nest team.
Wojciechowski believes the tracker could be released in multiple color options and include an onboard speaker to help users locate a missing device by sound, similar to Apple's AirTags.
Like AirTags and iPhone 11 and newer models, Google's Pixel 6 Pro and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones both support Ultra Wideband, and Wojciechowski claims the trackers could support the wireless protocol in addition to Bluetooth LE to provide users with precise directions to a lost tag. Google could announce the tracking tags alongside new Pixel phones at its I/O Developer Conference in May.
I have recently found references that show that Google's working on support for locator tags in Fast Pair - see the linked thread for more info. https://t.co/8tvlWaHQpv
Now it turns out Google's working on a first party tracker too!
— Kuba Wojciechowski⚡ (@Za_Raczke) January 16, 2023
Google's tags would likely offer much more functionality on Android than Apple's AirTags are capable of providing. AirTags require an Apple device to set up, and while Apple does have a "Tracker Detect" app in the Google Play Store that allows Android users to scan for AirTags and other Find My-enabled items that have been separated from their owner, the app was basically designed to alleviate fears that AirTags can be used maliciously to track the location of individuals.
The iPhone 15 Pro Max will be the sole Apple smartphone of 2023 to get a periscope camera lens and benefit from greatly enhanced optical zoom, with the hardware only set to become a feature of both Pro models next year, claims a new Korean report.
According to The Elec, Apple intends a "Folded Zoom" periscope telephoto lens to be an exclusive feature in the iPhone 15 Pro Max this year, corroborating a report by Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Kuo has previously said the iPhone 15 Pro Max will be only model in the iPhone 15 series to get a periscope camera lens, a prediction that analyst Jeff Pu has also made. The Korean report claims Apple will then make the periscope lens system a feature of both iPhone 16 Pro models in 2024.
In a periscope system, light entering the telephoto lens is reflected by an angled mirror towards the camera's image sensor. The change in direction in which the light travels allows for a longer "folded" telephoto setup inside phones, enabling users to zoom in further without any blurriness.
According to The Elec, Apple is tapping new suppliers for the OIS actuators that will be used in the periscope lens destined for this year's iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple will rely on Korean companies LG Innotek and Jahwa Electronics to supply the actuators, replacing existing iPhone camera module actuator makers Japan Alps and Mitsumi.
Both LG Innotek and Jahwa have worked with Samsung to develop the ball-type actuators, which lend themselves better to folded zoom modules than the spring actuators Apple currently uses in its telephoto modules. Samsung's Galaxy S22 Ultra already features a 10x zoom periscope telephoto camera.
Apple's decision to make hardware features exclusive to this year's 6.7-inch iPhone 15 Pro Max model is likely to cause frustration among would-be upgraders who seek the best features in the smaller 6.1-inch Pro model. Apple has not differentiated camera features between its iPhone "Pro" models since the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.
Rumors have suggested that there will be increased differentiation between the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, in part because of stronger iPhone 14 Pro Max sales than expected. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has said the iPhone 15 Pro Max could potentially be renamed the iPhone 15 Ultra, like the Apple Watch Ultra.
Additional details for the iPhone 15 are still rather scarce given its expected September release, but Apple is widely expected to shift to USB-C and expand the Dynamic Island to all of this year's iPhones.
Apple's next-generation HomePod will launch "fairly soon," according to well-connected Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman.
Apple discontinued the original HomePod in March 2021, reportedly due to lackluster sales, but the high-quality smart speaker still has many fans, and there have been rumors about the return of a new full-size HomePod for some time.
Gurman has previously said he does not expect the new HomePod to be "revolutionary," but it will have a more competitive price, an updated touch control panel on the top, and the S8 chip from the latest Apple Watch models.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has also said Apple has been working on an updated version of the HomePod that could come in the first quarter of 2023.
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