Apple is preparing three new M2 Macs [u]

AppleInsiderAppleInsider
Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited July 2022
References to three new M2-based Macs, along with model identifiers and even code names have reportedly been found within unspecified Apple code.




With the M1 having made its way into multiple critically-acclaimed Macs, it's not a surprise that the M2 is going to appear in more too. Now, though, a developer has spotted specific references to as-yet unreleased M2 models - and many more Apple devices.

Mac14,5
Mac14,6
Mac14,8

-- Pierre Blazquez (@pierre_blzqz)


Developer Pierre Blazquez will not identify which Apple code the references were found in, nor confirm how it's certain they are M2. However, Apple has said that the M1 is finished, so the three -- Mac14,5; Mac14,6; and Mac14,8 -- are almost certainly new M2 models.

"Identifiers have been extracted from a file archived in a publicly available software bundle," says Blazquez. "No UI resources or anything actually juicy (wouldn't have tweeted otherwise)."

Blazquez stresses that this is information from publicly-downloadable software and is not in any way claimed to be an insider leak.

"Fun fact: the software bundle has been online for months," continues Blazquez, "others have downloaded it way before me."

New iPhone, iPad and more devices

Blazquez has also now reported finding codenames and identifiers for more than 20 further new variants of devices. For the iPhone 14, he says the identifiers are:

  • iPhone15,2

  • iPhone15,3

  • iPhone15,4

  • iPhone15,5

This fits with https://appleinsider.com/articles/22/04/18/four-new-iphone-14-models-show-what-to-expect-in-the-fall that the iPhone 14 will feature four models.

Developer Blazquez says the identifiers for as-yet unknown iPads are:

  • iPad14,3

  • iPad14,4

  • iPad14,5

  • iPad14,6

  • iPad15,1

  • iPad15,2

There is no more information about forthcoming iPads, but amongst recent rumors there have been multiple sources reporting that Apple is working on a 14.1-inch iPad.

Similarly, persistent rumors say Apple will introduce a toughened, ruggedized Apple Watch -- although the company claims its current one is tough enough. Developer Blazquez says he's discovered nine variants coming:

  • Watch6,10

  • Watch6,11

  • Watch6,12

  • Watch6,13

  • Watch6,14

  • Watch6,15

  • Watch6,16

  • Watch6,17

  • Watch6,18

Blazquez has also uncovered a series of codenames that include T8120 and T8122. He says these are Apple System on a Chip numbers for new processors.

Previously, the T8110 was the codename for the iPhone's A15 Bionic, which suggests the T8210 could the next iPhone's processor. Similarly, T8220 could be the codename for a future Apple Silicon processor for the Mac.

Perhaps most interestingly, Blazquez has also found one identifier named
AudioAccessory6,1, with a codename of B620AP. He presumes this is a new HomePod, since the HomePod mini's internal name is AudioAccessory5,1.

Apple has not commented on this or any forthcoming releases. Nonetheless, Blazquez's findings back up recent rumors of Apple bringing out a new HomePod.

Updated July 5 at 9:25 AM ET Updated removing Mac Studio-specific references.

Updated July 5 at 10:50 AM ET Adding identifiers and codes for more Apple devices.

Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 14
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    One of the models will come with a base M2 chip, and be half the height of the MacStudio as it can eliminate the big heat sink and fan.
    If only they had a good name for it. 

     :D 

    darkvaderwatto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 14
    silverSalmonsilverSalmon Posts: 1member
    Funny that Apple are obfuscating models now. MacBook Air M2 - Mac14.2
    MacBook Pro 13” M2 - Mac14.7

    But
    MacBook Pro 13” M1 - MacBookPro17.1

    Are Mac14.5 14.6 and 14.8 still likely Mac Studio models?  Lots of missing Mac14.x models there. 

    (Well that article update made my post a little irrelevant :-/)
    edited July 2022 tenthousandthingswatto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 14
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Some of this makes more sense. What hasn’t make sense, to me at least, have been the reports (rumors) that Apple is skipping the M2 in many models, and going right to the M3. 
    d_2watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 14
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    melgross said:
    Some of this makes more sense. What hasn’t make sense, to me at least, have been the reports (rumors) that Apple is skipping the M2 in many models, and going right to the M3. 
    Yes the chips they are rolling out this year are going to be M2s. The headline article on AI right now is talking about the M series silicon and the future roadmap. It lays out a pretty convincing case for a 16-24 month cycle for the M series. So the M1 came out a year and a half ago, with devices rolling out through the year. They’ve just started on the M2 devices and products will be released over the next year. That means at best it would be the beginning of 2024 for the M3. 
    watto_cobrabaconstang
  • Reply 5 of 14
    JinTechJinTech Posts: 1,022member
    I'm still hoping for a MacPro with Apple Silicon this year.
    CurtisHightwatto_cobra
  • Reply 6 of 14
    9secondkox29secondkox2 Posts: 2,707member
    Possibly Mac pros. 

    Would be insane. 

    That means that yes probably announce m2 pro and max notebook spec bumps and Mac mini spec bump in short order. 
    edited July 2022 watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 14
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    silverSalmon said:
    Funny that Apple are obfuscating models now. MacBook Air M2 - Mac14.2
    MacBook Pro 13” M2 - Mac14.7

    But
    MacBook Pro 13” M1 - MacBookPro17.1

    Are Mac14.5 14.6 and 14.8 still likely Mac Studio models?  Lots of missing Mac14.x models there. 

    (Well that article update made my post a little irrelevant :-/)
    This is the way Apple has always done it. It’s nothing new. These are internal reference numbers and aren’t supposed to be outed for public consumption. So do go blaming them for obfuscation.
    watto_cobraFileMakerFeller
  • Reply 8 of 14
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    DAalseth said:
    melgross said:
    Some of this makes more sense. What hasn’t make sense, to me at least, have been the reports (rumors) that Apple is skipping the M2 in many models, and going right to the M3. 
    Yes the chips they are rolling out this year are going to be M2s. The headline article on AI right now is talking about the M series silicon and the future roadmap. It lays out a pretty convincing case for a 16-24 month cycle for the M series. So the M1 came out a year and a half ago, with devices rolling out through the year. They’ve just started on the M2 devices and products will be released over the next year. That means at best it would be the beginning of 2024 for the M3. 
    That’s why I said it didn’t make sense.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 14
    darkvaderdarkvader Posts: 1,146member
    melgross said:
    DAalseth said:
    melgross said:
    Some of this makes more sense. What hasn’t make sense, to me at least, have been the reports (rumors) that Apple is skipping the M2 in many models, and going right to the M3. 
    Yes the chips they are rolling out this year are going to be M2s. The headline article on AI right now is talking about the M series silicon and the future roadmap. It lays out a pretty convincing case for a 16-24 month cycle for the M series. So the M1 came out a year and a half ago, with devices rolling out through the year. They’ve just started on the M2 devices and products will be released over the next year. That means at best it would be the beginning of 2024 for the M3. 
    That’s why I said it didn’t make sense.

    There's no evidence that the M chips are going to make sense.  At this point there's evidence that they aren't, the M2 may well be a low-power-only lineup.  We have no idea what the M3 is going to be, could be a fast chip, could be low-power.  Maybe the next 'fast' chip will be the M3, maybe it'll be the M1 MaxUltra, maybe it'll be the M4.

    Apple has been terrible at product names since 1997.
  • Reply 10 of 14
    thttht Posts: 5,443member
    Always amazed at how few iPhone models there are. Once again, it's just 4 new models only, and they are going to sell 200+ million units. Even the iPhone mini, which is rumored to be about 3% of sales, will have about 5 million units sold. That's likely more that all Pro Mac models, all Pro iPad models combined per year. Also interesting that Apple doesn't feel it's worth maintaining the iPhone mini as a model in the lineup year over year, yet it sells so many units relative to certain products.

    Apple looks to be generalizing the model identifiers now. They usually are more descriptive with them, such as Macmini9,1 or MacBookPro18. The brand name of the product is in the model identifier. With the Mac Studio model identifier being Mac13,1 and Mac13,2 and the M2 MBP13 identifier being Mac14,7, model identifiers of Mac14,5, Mac14,6 and Mac14,8 could be anything. The M2 MBA will probably be one of those model identifiers. M2 iMac and M2 Mac mini models could be the other two.

    The Mac Pro has to be one eventually. The MBP14/16 probably 10 months out still. An MBA15 is going to be a big seller if it starts at $1600. That's probably Apple's most important product to get right in a while.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 14
    MarvinMarvin Posts: 15,322moderator
    melgross said:
    Some of this makes more sense. What hasn’t make sense, to me at least, have been the reports (rumors) that Apple is skipping the M2 in many models, and going right to the M3. 
    There was a rumor saying they'd use 3nm for the Pro chips vs 5nm (N5P) for the base M2 chip but the Pro chips would also be called M2 so it would be something like:

    M2 (5nm) = 3.6 TFLOPs
    M2 Pro (3nm) = 7.2 TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 (3nm) = 9TFLOPs (M1 Max level)
    M2 Max (3nm) = 14.4 TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 = 18TFLOPs (M1 Ultra level in notebook)
    M2 Ultra (3nm) = 28.8 TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 = 36TFLOPs (nearing higher-end 2019 Mac Pro level in Mac Studio)
    M2 Extreme (3nm) = 57.6TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 = 72TFLOPs (above highest 2019 Mac Pro, similar to upcoming Nvidia 4090) - a Mac Pro machine could just use multiple Ultra chips though and not have a special Extreme model

    The Pro chips would be ok on 5nm this year. If they use a chip in their AR hardware next year, that makes sense to be on 3nm so that could be M3. 3nm M3 should bring it close to M1 Pro performance but passively cooled.
    Alex1N
  • Reply 12 of 14
    tenthousandthingstenthousandthings Posts: 1,036member
    I thought (assumed) the speculation about the 3nm process getting the M3 name was because the 5nm (N5P) M2 Pro would also exist. That is, it wouldn’t be one or the other—both could exist…

    Apparently only in my imagination, this is what I was thinking, setting aside the M1/M2 13" MBP:

    M2 MacBook Air 13"
    M2/M2 Pro MacBook Air 15"
    M2/M2 Pro iMac 24"
    M2/M2 Pro Mac mini (redesign)

    M3 Pro/Max MacBook Pro 14" and 16"
    M3 Max/Ultra Mac Studio
    M3 Ultra/Extreme Mac Pro

    Maybe the M3 Mac Pro gets released first, since it is low volume, with the higher-volume Studio and MacBook Pro following on. 

    Pure fantasy, I suppose…
    edited July 2022
  • Reply 13 of 14
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    darkvader said:
    melgross said:
    DAalseth said:
    melgross said:
    Some of this makes more sense. What hasn’t make sense, to me at least, have been the reports (rumors) that Apple is skipping the M2 in many models, and going right to the M3. 
    Yes the chips they are rolling out this year are going to be M2s. The headline article on AI right now is talking about the M series silicon and the future roadmap. It lays out a pretty convincing case for a 16-24 month cycle for the M series. So the M1 came out a year and a half ago, with devices rolling out through the year. They’ve just started on the M2 devices and products will be released over the next year. That means at best it would be the beginning of 2024 for the M3. 
    That’s why I said it didn’t make sense.

    There's no evidence that the M chips are going to make sense.  At this point there's evidence that they aren't, the M2 may well be a low-power-only lineup.  We have no idea what the M3 is going to be, could be a fast chip, could be low-power.  Maybe the next 'fast' chip will be the M3, maybe it'll be the M1 MaxUltra, maybe it'll be the M4.

    Apple has been terrible at product names since 1997.
    Well, that doesn’t make sense either. Apple can’t fling names and numbers about. They need constancy.
  • Reply 14 of 14
    melgrossmelgross Posts: 33,510member
    Marvin said:
    melgross said:
    Some of this makes more sense. What hasn’t make sense, to me at least, have been the reports (rumors) that Apple is skipping the M2 in many models, and going right to the M3. 
    There was a rumor saying they'd use 3nm for the Pro chips vs 5nm (N5P) for the base M2 chip but the Pro chips would also be called M2 so it would be something like:

    M2 (5nm) = 3.6 TFLOPs
    M2 Pro (3nm) = 7.2 TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 (3nm) = 9TFLOPs (M1 Max level)
    M2 Max (3nm) = 14.4 TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 = 18TFLOPs (M1 Ultra level in notebook)
    M2 Ultra (3nm) = 28.8 TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 = 36TFLOPs (nearing higher-end 2019 Mac Pro level in Mac Studio)
    M2 Extreme (3nm) = 57.6TFLOPs (5nm) x 1.25 = 72TFLOPs (above highest 2019 Mac Pro, similar to upcoming Nvidia 4090) - a Mac Pro machine could just use multiple Ultra chips though and not have a special Extreme model

    The Pro chips would be ok on 5nm this year. If they use a chip in their AR hardware next year, that makes sense to be on 3nm so that could be M3. 3nm M3 should bring it close to M1 Pro performance but passively cooled.
    I have no argument with that. It’s close to what I expect. It’s the articles and statements from some YouTube channels that Apple is going to leap to M3 just after they came out with the “standard” M2 that bothers me. That what makes no sense.
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