After announcing the new MacBook Air 2022 and MacBook Pro 2022 13-inch with the new M2 chip at WWDC this year, Apple is apparently not done with the Macbook lineup just yet. They are reportedly working on new Macs that will be powered by a new M2 Pro chip. In his latest Power On newsletter (opens in new tab), Mark Gurman details additional Macs in Apple’s product roadmap. This includes a new Mac mini 2022 model, which could come with the M2 chip and M2 Pro chips, while the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro will apparently have M2 Pro and M2 Max variants available. Gurman also mentions a new Mac Pro tower with M2 Ultra and “M2 Extreme” chips. The products will apparently “come in much quicker succession than the M1-based Macs did.” The core of Apple’s new Macs will remain the new and powerful M2 chip and the macOS Ventura that was announced at WWDC 2022. It seems like M2 is not the only ‘new’ chip from Apple this year, if what Gurman is saying is true — we could have several sub chips from Apple’s oven each powered to take on a specific product. Mac Pro is already the most powerful desktop Mac that Apple sells — so it is exciting to see what Apple has to offer with high-octane sounding chips like “M2 Ultra” and “M2 Extreme”. The slew of new chips doesn’t end there. Gurman also claims that Apple is working on the next M3 chip and that we might see it on the 13-inch Macbook Air in 2023. Gurman writes, “Apple is also already at work on the M2’s successor, the M3, and the company is planning to use that chip as early as next year with updates to the 13-inch MacBook Air.” There could also be a 15-inch Macbook Air 2023 and a new 12-inch laptop in the works for next year.
A new Apple HomePod
Yes, that’s the big surprise claim that Gurman made in his newsletter. Apple abruptly discontinued its smart speaker the HomePod in 2021, but now Gurman reports that a new HomePod could be launched by the company. According to Gurman, the new HomePod will probably look and sound similar to the HomePod 2018 model. It could feature Apple’s upcoming S8 chip that’s apparently coming to the Apple Watch 8 and it could also have an updated display on the top of the speaker that may include multi-touch functionality. Currently the only smart speaker with Siri from Apple is the HomePod Mini that retails for $99 and comes with a S5 chip. S8 on the HomePod could mean a whole lot of power and improvement in audio performance, but at the same time it could mean we may not see a new iteration of the HomePod Mini anytime soon. The HomePod had a price tag of $349 and was one of the most expensive smart speakers around at that time. The HomePod Mini, on the other hand, was more successful as it squeezed some of the best features of the HomePod into a more compact and affordable device. It’s not clear if the HomePod will launch this year or early next year. Gurman says Apple is “about to embark on one of the most ambitious periods of new products in its history” with the deluge of products it is going to launch.
