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Apple could be weeks away from announcing its new devices, and another report claims that at least four Macs launching this year will be powered by the widely anticipated M2 chipset. An updated 24-inch iMac is expected to be part of that lineup.
In June 202 Apple announced that it will start the transition from Intel-based processors to its in-house SoC in the next two years. While the release of Apple silicon-powered devices has been gradual, the tech giant is expected to complete that goal this year.
The latest edition of PowerOn, a newsletter by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, has named four upcoming Macs that will reportedly use the unannounced M2 chipset. Most of the devices in the list have been mentioned in numerous leaks in the previous months. The majority of those leaks did not mention a new 24-inch iMac coming this year, but Gurman expects the product to be part of the M2-powered devices to enter the market in the coming months.
Apple fans have likely heard about the other products in the report. A new 13-inch MacBook Pro, a new Mac mini, and the redesigned MacBook Air are part of the group that will reportedly launch with M2 this year.
While the expected name of the chipset hints at the start of a new generation for the Apple silicon, it is not expected to be necessarily more powerful than the extensions of the M1, such as the M1 Max and M1 Pro. The same report expects the upcoming 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 to be positioned below (in terms of computing power) the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros that both launched with the M1 Max and M1 Pro options last fall.
The M2, however, is expected to be faster than the base model of M1. But the M2 could have more improvements in the graphics processing department as it is reported to include more GPU cores than the 6-core GPU on the M1.
Gurman said he expects the four M2-powered Macs to be released “during 2022,” so it is unknown which of these devices will be announced in the coming weeks. Apple is rumored to conduct its spring launch event in early March. If that is accurate, tech fans should be seeing an official event teaser and a subsequent announcement as soon as next week.
Photo by Jay Wennington on Unsplash
