New Mac Pro and 15-inch MacBook Air could arrive at WWDC23

New Mac Pro and 15-inch MacBook Air could arrive at WWDC23

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Your wait for an Apple silicon-Mac Pro will have to continue for now.
Image: Cult of Mac

Apple’s 15-inch MacBook Air and new Mac Pro could launch later than initially believed. The machines are reportedly on track to launch between late spring and summer.

This hints at the possibility of the new Macs debuting at this year’s WWDC.

Apple silicon-Mac Pro might launch at WWDC 2023

Apple usually holds a March event to announce new products. Rumors have claimed the long overdue Apple silicon Mac Pro and the 15-inch MacBook Air could debut this month. But that seems unlikely to happen.

In the latest edition of the Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reports Apple will launch three new Macs between late spring and summer. This suggests the company could launch the new Macs at WWDC 2023.

Apple typically holds its yearly developer conference in the first week of June. At WWDC22, the company announced the M2 chip and the new 13-inch MacBook Air. So, new Macs debuting at this year’s developer event is a probability.

As for the new Macs, Apple is preparing to launch the Mac Pro, codenamed J180; the 15-inch MacBook Air, codenamed J515; and a 13-inch MacBook Air refresh.

15-inch MacBook Air could use the M2 chip

Apple plans to offer the Mac Pro with the M2 Ultra chip, featuring a 24-core CPU, 76-core GPU, and up to 192GB RAM. As for the new MacBook Airs, there’s no clarity on which M-series chip could power them.

Rumors indicate Apple could use its existing 5nm M2 SoC inside the 15-inch MacBook Air. The 13-inch Air could feature the more power-efficient M3 chip.

Since the beginning of the Apple silicon transition, Apple has used the MacBook Air as the launch platform for its new SoCs. The M1 chip debuted on the 2020 MacBook Air, while the M2 SoC first appeared inside the 2022 MacBook Air. So, Apple could continue that trend with this year’s M3 chip and 13-inch MacBook Air refresh.

Based on TSMC’s 3nm node, the M3 SoC is expected to bring a notable boost in performance and efficiency. This would be unlike the M2 chip, which introduced marginal performance improvements over the M1.