tenthousandthings

A two hour presentation, but part of that will be Resident Evil. None of this makes any sense without a Capcom segment.

The A17 "Pro" label makes more sense knowing that M3 Pro and M3 Max are likely here, released more or less at the same time. They will share the mesh shading and hardware ray tracing graphics elements.

To my mind, the only remaining question is the M3. Maybe this means some kind of change in how the graphics are handled, versus how they were handled in the M1 and M2 generations. Before, M1 could have been named A14X, and M2 could have been named A15X. M1 Pro/Max and M2 Pro/Max stood apart. I'll guess this is no longer the case. M3 won't be a derivative of the A17, rather, the A17 Pro is a derivative of the M3.

So the new M3 iMac will have mesh shading and hardware ray tracing, and tomorrow night we'll see Resident Evil Village again, this time on the late 2023 iMac with M3 Pro.

Or, you know, the iMac will get M2 and M2 Pro, and there won't be any M3. Or some other combination that makes perfect sense in retrospect... 

headfull0wine said:

They're building M3 chips for the Pro and Max MacBook Pros.  They need to also sell the iMac as a way to offload all the binned chips since the yield is still low. 

Did I miss a story with reliable recent information about TSMC’s N3B yields? Because all I remember is an old report from more than a year ago that just said yields were as expected for that stage of 3nm development.

Solid arguments can be made for either M2 or M3 with regard to the iMac, but anything else (other than iPad Air) has to be M3.

I still tend to lean toward the M2 and M2 Pro for the iMac, with possibly the big news being a new display with an internal redesign that allows for M2 Max.

But the M1 launched the month after the A14 Bionic, so it wouldn't be unprecedented for M3 to come the month after A17 Pro. The use of the Pro label for the A17 may presage this rumored launch of M3 Pro and M3 Max in the month after A17 Pro. "A17 Pro" does make sense in that retrospective context. I'd still consider it a long shot, but it's possible.

jellybelly said:

1.)   I don’t think anyone has predicted that 24” iMacs might be upgraded not only with M2 but also with M2 Pro and M2 Max SOC as “scary fast” options. I’d expect the M2 Max will be faster than the base M3.

For the iMac 24”, that could be a “scary” fast option of interest for many—including folks with a Studio Display they already have or would get so they’d have a two monitor system with power in the tank. 

There could be an introduction of a 27” or 30” or 32” iMac with the M2 Pro or M2 Max.   That would make sense. It would fill a long time stretch of no upgrades on that product. The M2 Pro & M2 Max are already in production and this would avoid the supply crunch on the M3 SOC. 

2.)  Another thought is—why would Apple schedule a reveal and compete for audience just when game 3 of the World Series starts?

Maybe the reveal will followed by (or be in) a series of ads during the World Series game, with a bigger ad just before the game start of 5:03pm PDT, and a repeat or second ad during 7th inning stretch.  And short 20 second or less ads during the game hi-lighting gaming on iPhone and the new iMacs as reinforcement teasers. It would be a rather larger audience and during a sporting event, in which they might also reveal expanded MLB showings beyond the Friday night deal. 

Good points, all. I had not thought of that at all.

byronl said:

why does it even still exist. I can't imagine it sells at all

It has a fan. That’s what differentiates it from the Air. No throttling under load. Thus, the “Pro” label. Basically a Pro laptop for people who don’t need high-end graphics and displays. Audio professionals, for example. Corporate settings. Apple sells a lot of these things.