Apple's next batch of M3-chip Macs will likely be released in March alongside the MacBook Air, but it may take a long time to wait for the M3-chip version of the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.
Apple launched the M3 era at the end of October with the launch of the M3 chip versions of the 24-inch iMac, 14-inch MacBook Pro, and 16-inch MacBook Pro. Now, the focus is on when the rest of the Mac series will all iterate on the current chips.
In Sunday's Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman believes that the next batch of releases will include an updated version of the MacBook Air, codenamed J613 and J615, with not much to change other than an internal spec upgrade.
The 13-inch and 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, which is expected to be released in March, will be promoted for users of the M1 and Intel Macs, not those of the M2. For those who have been using the 15-inch M2 MacBook Air since last June, the upgrade may be too fast.
The M3 version of the MacBook Air also provides an opportunity for Apple to exit the product catalog of the M1 MacBook Air and replace it with the M2 version as the new low-end model.
The last updated Mac series will be high-end models, specifically the Mac Studio and Mac Pro. However, Gurman writes: these two models"It may have to wait until the end of 2024 at the earliest, and maybe even until 2025"will be upgraded.
In terms of timeline, even based on Apple's previous release model, updates to the M3 chip on Mac Studio and Mac Pro usually lag behind mainstream product updates. Since these two products are aimed at professionals and high-end markets, they tend to require more processing power and higher scalability, so the hardware requirements are relatively higher.
In addition, high-end users often have a longer demand cycle for updates than mainstream markets, and they are more willing to wait for a substantial improvement than to make frequent small upgrades. Therefore, Apple may strategically choose to complete the internal design and functional upgrade of these two high-end products after the other product lines have completed the M3 chip upgrade.