Over the past few years, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has become a very reputable insider in the tech world. Almost all of his predictions and insiders about future Apple products came true.

Therefore, it is more interesting to look at his reasoning about future Macs, published in a fresh text on Bloomberg . I can’t call them insiders. Most likely, something is indeed obtained from Mr. Gurman’s sources, but something is exclusively his thoughts on the future line of Apple computers.

This is not a translation, but a free retelling of Mr. Gurman’s text with minor additions and observations that I read in authoritative sources or that I thought of myself, having many years of experience in observing the company’s products.

First of all, Mark Gurman draws attention to Apple’s statement that the M1 Ultra is the latest system-on-a-chip in the M1 line. That is, we will not see more powerful chips. Taking into account the reaction to the entire prolific line, this looks like a completely logical decision.

In general, looking at this illustration prepared by Apple, there is an idea that the company actually made only two chips: M1 and M1 Max. M1 Pro turned out by “cutting off” part of the system-on-a-chip, and M1 Ultra – by combining two “maxes”.

Mac Pro

If the M1 Ultra is indeed the last of the M1 line of chips, then the Mac Pro is definitely not worth the wait this year. At the same time, the company is still working on it, which was also announced. There are very big doubts that Apple will release a Mac Pro on the M1 Ultra: what’s the point of it at all? Make a big computer with hardware from a small Mac Studio?

However, Apple has two more options for a powerful new Mac Pro:

• The first is on two M1 Ultra at once. It will no longer be possible to combine them with one UltraFusion bus, since it is busy.
• The second is on the most powerful chip of the new generation, it will be released later. I’ll call it the M2 Ultra Pro Max and Mr. Gourmand the M2 Extreme.

The second option sounds logical, because already in the second half of the year, according to Mr. Gurman, Apple will start rolling out computers on the M2. By the end of the year, at least three computers are expected to be released: MacBook Air, MacBook Pro (13), Mac mini. The iMac 24″ will probably also be updated, but in this case, only an “iron” update is expected, and the design will be the same.

Releasing a Mac Pro on the most powerful version of the M1 after the release of the M2 is a little strange. This will confuse users, many of them will not understand which is more powerful: M1 Ultra Pro Max or M2.

iMac and iMac Pro

In addition to news of a potential Mac Pro, we learned that the latest 27-inch iMac in a 15-year-old design has been discontinued:

Rumors immediately followed that Apple would drop the big iMac from its lineup:

We discussed this news in the editorial office, and then I voiced the following thought: there really will be no 27-inch iMac. But there will be a 27-inch iMac Pro. Oddly enough, Mark Gurman was of the same opinion. The upcoming iMac Pro will be revealed next year and will feature the M2 Pro and M2 Max, the same systems-on-a-chip that will be found in future 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros.

If you want a less productive computer, buy an iMac 24 or Mac mini and Apple Studio Display.

Other computers

Starting from the second half of 2022, Apple will start releasing computers on the M2. This chip opens a new generation of system-on-a-chip. Mr. Gourmet expects the following chips:

• M2 – eight CPU cores and nine or ten GPUs,
• M2 Pro – 12 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores,
• M2 Max – 12 CPU cores and 32 GPU cores,
• M2 Ultra – 24 CPU cores and 48 or 64 GPU cores,
• M2 Extreme – 48 CPU cores and 96 or 128 GPU cores.

In all cases, the number of cores will be increased relative to M1. Apple computers will become even more powerful, which will further illustrate the fact that Intel has very much slowed down the company’s ambitions.

Apple will continue to divide computers into two lines: consumer and productive. The first line will be joyfully colored, the second – gloomy gray or dark gray.

The transition from Intel to proprietary systems-on-a-chip will end in 2023. This is later than Apple promised two years:

But when this plan was announced, no one could even think that the pandemic would slow down all processes for about a year. Actually, then no one thought about the pandemic.

Product line Pro:

• MacBook Pro (14″ and 16″) on M2 Pro and M2 Max,
• iMac Pro on M2 Pro and M2 Max,
• Mac Studio on M2 Max and M2 Ultra,
• Mac Pro on M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme.

Custom ruler:

• Macbook Air on M2,
• MacBook Pro (13-inch) on M2,
• Mac mini on M2 and M2 Pro,
• iMac on M2.

Mark Gurman also adds that Apple displays should also be included in the professional line. According to 9to5Mac , they will have a 7K resolution, as well as the Apple A13 system-on-a-chip that powers the iPhone 11. It is not yet known why the chip is needed, but it is likely that it will be an AirPlay-enabled device. Most likely, it will either replace the Pro Display XDR, or become an addition to the line with a resolution increased to 36 inches while maintaining 218 ppi. The new display will be included in the line of productive solutions.

But in the user line there will be only Studio Display for now.

Which poppy are you looking forward to?