Apple plans to launch M2 Pro Mac mini, A14 Apple TV, revamped HomePod, and more

In the latest issue of the Power On newsletter, written for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman outlines more M2 Macs on Apple’s product roadmap, including new Mac mini models with M2 and M2 Pro chips, new models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, as well as new Mac Pro towers with M2 Ultra and “M2 Extreme” chips, are on the agenda.

Apple’s two-year transition to its own chips is finally over, except for one product: the Mac Pro , and one that users are more based on knowing its next direction is the Pro Display XDR.

Both products were launched by Apple during WWDC19, and are aimed at customers with the highest performance requirements. Here’s Apple’s roundup of plans for the next Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR.

In November 2020, Apple began a two-year transition to its own chips. That process is largely over after the company wraps up rolling out the new Mac Studio by March 2022.

At the end of the Peek Performance event, Apple also teased that a Mac Pro with an in-house chip is also in the works, although the company has nothing else to share right now.

Bloomberg has been reporting since May last year that Apple is working on a new Mac Pro with 40 cores: Codenamed Jade 2C-Die and Jade 4C-Die, the redesigned Mac Pro is planned to have 20 or 40 compute cores. Variations, consisting of 16 high-performance or 32 high-performance cores and 4 or 8 high-efficiency cores. The chips will also include 64-core or 128-core graphics chips. The number of computing cores is higher than the 28 cores currently offered by Intel’s Mac Pro chips, while higher-end graphics chips will replace parts currently made by AMD .

Regarding the Mac Pro’s design, Bloomberg said, “it is expected to look like a scaled-down version of the current design.” Even with some M2 Macs now, it’s still unclear when Apple plans to talk more about the Mac Pro.

So what about the Pro Display XDR?

In July 2021, 9to5Mac exclusively reported that Apple has been working on a new external display with a dedicated A13 chip inside and also a Neural Engine, which we now know is the Studio Display.

9to5Mac also exclusively reported that Apple is working on another display, this time, it may replace the Pro Display XDR with a 7K panel.

While it’s unclear if the new Apple Studio Display is a replacement for the professional display XDR or a new model in the lineup with unique features, people familiar with the matter told 9to5Mac that the new display has a 7K resolution.

By comparison, the Pro Display XDR has a 32-inch 6K (6016 x 3384) panel with 218 pixels per inch. The higher resolution could mean the new Apple Studio Display will have a higher pixel density of 245PPI, or it will keep the same 218PPI as the Pro Display XDR, but on a larger 36-inch panel.

Analysts Ming-Chi Kuo and Ross Young have different views on what the Pro Display XDR might do:

(…) In fact, Ross Young said he expects Apple to launch a 27-inch mini LED display with a 5K resolution as soon as June. Their analytics firm believes production has already begun.

However, Ming-Chi Kuo took the opposite view, saying on Twitter that Apple may not launch new miniLED products this year due to high costs.

Armed with powerful M-series chips and new Studio monitors, the most demanding users are eager to discover how Apple will revamp its most premium offerings with the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR next generation.

A14 Apple TV, revamped HomePod, and more

After the M2 series of Macs, Apple will then transition to Macs with M3 chips, including an updated 13-inch MacBook Air, a new 15-inch MacBook Air, a new iMac , and possibly a new 12-inch notebook “still in early development.” .

Gurman said Apple is working on several other devices that could come later this year and beyond, including a new Apple TV with an A14 chip and 4GB of RAM, a new HomePod with the same S8 chip as the Apple Watch Series 8, Likely AR/VR headsets with M2 chips and 16GB of RAM,iPad Pros with M2 chips, new low-end iPads with A14 chips and USB-C ports, new AirPods Pro, and more.

Gurman said the new HomePod will be closer to the original in size and feature an updated display on top of the speaker.

As for the S8 chip used in the Apple Watch Series 8 and the new HomePod, it has the same specs as the S7 and S6 chips in previous models. The S8 chip may also be used in the next Apple Watch SE.