A new report by Nikkei Asia says Apple’s next-generation “M2” processor entered mass production this month. The processors take at least three months to produce in sufficient numbers, meaning they could ship in new Macs as early as July, say the report’s sources.
The next generation of Mac processors designed by Apple entered mass production this month, sources familiar with the matter told Nikkei Asia, bringing the U.S. tech giant one step closer to its goal of replacing Intel-designed central processing units with its own.
Shipments of the new chipset — tentatively known as the M2, after Apple’s current M1 processor — could begin as early as July for use in MacBooks that are scheduled to go on sale in the second half of this year, the people said.
The new processor is being produced by Apple’s processor partner TSMC, the same fabricator that handles Apple’s current M1 processor used in the latest Mac mini, MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac, and iPad Pro.
Apple’s current M1 processor is built using a 5nm-based fabrication process, and boasts an 8-core CPU, up to an 8-core GPU, a 16-core Neural Engine, unified memory architecture, and more.
Rumors have indicated that upcoming Apple Silicon-based Macs will include new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with an all-new form factor as early as Q2 2021. A redesigned 27-inch iMac is expected later this year, and a smaller Mac Pro is likely to debut sometime in 2022.
