Apple May Not Be Done With Its High-Performance Chips; All The Silicons That Cupertino Might Be Working On

Apple, Inc. APPL held its first-launch event of the year last week, and the announcements were largely in line with the rumors that were floating around previously.

Apple's Next Chip Iterations: With Apple suggesting that the M1 Ultra is the last in the M1 series for the Mac Pro, Bloomberg columnist Mark Gurman sees two possibilities that could play out.

Apple could unveil a new Mac Pro with dual M1 Ultra without giving a new name for the dual chip. Gurman noted that Apple had been working on a New Mac Pro with double the performance of the M1 Ultra.

Alternatively, Apple could be delaying the launch of the new Mac Pro until it is ready with its M2 Ultra and a dual M2 Ultra, the Apple specialist said.

• The next slate of chips from Apple's stable, according to Gurman, are:
• M2 with eight CPU cores and nine or 10 graphic cores
• M2 Pro with 12 CPU cores and 16 graphics cores
• M2 Max with 12 CPU cores and 32 graphics cores
• M2 Ultra with 24 CPU cores and 48 or 64 graphics cores
• M2 Extreme with 48 CPU cores and 96 or 128 graphics cores (Extreme refers to the dual M2 Ultra)

Related Link: Here's Why Apple Analysts Are Bullish Over 'Peek Performance' Event

Gurman said he thinks Apple will be better off delaying the launch of a new Mac Pro until the M2 chip is ready. The low-power M2 Macs will arrive before the first Mac Pro, he added.

"It wouldn't be a great marketing exercise for the M1-based Mac Pro to drop after M2 machines, but stranger things have happened," Gurman said.

The Apple specialist said he expects the launch of at least two or three new Macs around the middle of 2022. M2-powered MacBook Air, Mac mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro and 24-inch iMac are in development for release in 2022 and the next year, he said.

Gurman's Take On Mac Lineup By End Of 2023: When Apple fully transitions to M2 chips at the end of 2023, there will likely be ten new Macs, the writer said.

Pro Mac lineup will likely comprise the following:

• MacBook Pro with both 14-inch and 16-inch screen size and powered by M2 Pro and M2 Max chips
• iMac Pro with an M2 Pro and M2 Max
• Mac Studio with an M2 Max and M2 Ultra
• Mac Pro with an M2 Ultra and M2 Extreme
• Apple Pro Display 7K

For the consumer segment, Gurman expects the following:

• MacBook Air with an M2
• MacBook Pro (13 inch) with an M2
• Mac mini with an M2 and an M2 Pro version to replace the Intel Corporation INTC model
• Mac with an M2
• Apple Studio Display

Apple closed Friday's session at $154.73, down $2.39.

Related Link: How Apple Can Win With A $199 iPhone