More MacBooks are coming which are powered by Apple’s own chips, and you can expect them to arrive in the second half of 2021 – and this time, they will be redesigned models, according to the rumor mill.
This info comes from one of the most solid Apple sources out there, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, via the usual research note which was obtained by MacRumors.
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No mention was made of what particular revamped MacBook models would be launched in H2 2021, but as mentioned they will have a new design. Unlike the first Apple laptops sporting its own M1 chip, which stuck with the existing design for Intel-powered devices (much to our chagrin – this was the main sticking point when it came to the negative aspects in our reviews of the MacBook Pro (M1, 2020) and MacBook Air (M1, 2020).
Kuo has previously indicated that a new MacBook Pro 16-inch (potentially with a mini-LED display, and maybe a new Touch Bar) and a MacBook Pro 14-inch are the models which will pitch up in Q2 or Q3 of 2021, so presumably the latter is now the case.
Big SoC upgrade?
Nothing is mentioned about what SoC (system-on-a-chip) the purportedly incoming MacBooks might use, although other recent speculation promises major improvements from the supposed M1X chip which will follow the current M1 model. This M1X silicon will debut first on the MacBook Pro 16-inch, the rumor suggests, and it will up the ante to 12-cores (four of those being low-powered, high-efficiency cores to keep things ticking over when the muscly cores aren’t needed, to better extend battery life).
Of course, performance is one thing, but it’s software compatibility which remains a slight concern with Apple’s custom silicon, at least according to some reports online – although here at TechRadar, we haven’t experienced any such stumbling blocks ourselves.
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