Apple M2 chip: all the news and rumors so far

Apple M2 chip: all the news and rumors so far

The Apple M2 chip could be right around the corner, as many are expecting an announcement as soon as WWDC 2022, which is set for Monday, June 6, 2022. 

All eyes are going to be on Steve Jobs Theater at Apple Park in Cupertino, California, as Apple CEO Tim Cook delivers what may be the biggest event of the year for the Silicon Valley tech giant, and we've got you covered if you want to know how to watch the WWDC 2022 keynote live stream so you can follow along with all of the reveals.

Speaking of reveals, there is some uncertainty about whether we'll see the new Apple M2 chip at the event, since it is a more software-driven event traditionally, geared more towards developers than consumers. 

Back in 2017, Apple announced a new iMac Pro (now-discontinued), and it announced the Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR in 2019, but in all the years in between, very little on the hardware front has been mentioned with any specificity. If we didn't see the Apple M2, we wouldn't be shocked (though we might be disappointed). Still...

There has been a lot of talk around the Apple M2 this year, and it's totally understandable. We first learned at WWDC 2020 that Apple was shifting away from Intel processors in favor of its own silicon, and later that year Apple introduced the M1 chip, which went on to power the best laptop around (in our opinion), the Apple MacBook Air (M1). It's been almost two years since that reveal, so there's plenty of buzz around a new Apple M2 chip and possibly a new MacBook Air (2022).

Whether we see the Apple M2 – and related hardware running it like a new Mac Mini (2022) – at WWDC 2022 or not is anyone's guess, but it's definitely on everyone's radar this weekend, and will be the most-watched-for reveal of the event. Here's what we know so far about this highly-anticipated update to Apple's game-changing silicon.

Will the Apple M2 appear at WWDC 2022?

While there has been a lot of speculation that an Apple M2 chip will be revealed at WWDC 2022, that is far from certain – and not just because Apple is notoriously leak-proof for the most part.

We do also have to consider the nature of the event in question. WWDC 2022 is the Worldwide Developers' Conference, which means that it's full of dedicated, professional Apple developers, not general consumers. This is the kind of event that traditionally sees the launch of professional equipment like the Mac Pro, which is why it's far more likely that we'll see a new Mac Pro 2022 at this event than a MacBook Air or even a MacBook Pro.

Those latter devices are expected to launch with the new Apple M2 chip, whereas the Mac Pro 2022 is expected to launch with a double-M1 Ultra configuration utilizing the same kind of interconnect technology that wedded two Apple M1 Max SoCs into a single unified chip, the M1 Ultra.

We don't expect that we'll see yet another M1-class processor at the event, since Apple said during its Peek Performance event that the M1 Ultra was the last M1 processor they had in the works. Still, fusing together two M1 Ultras (or four M1 Max chips, if you want to think of it that way), would take up a lot of the discussion at WWDC 2022, so it's much less likely that Apple would step on either announcement by announcing the other, and since it makes no sense to announce a dual-M1 Ultra powered Mac Pro after announcing the Apple M2, we would set expectations for WWDC 2022 and the Apple M2 accordingly. 

That said, Apple loves to surprise us, so don't rule anything out. 

Apple M2 chip: Cut to the chase

• What is it? Apple's next generation of mainstream Mac and iPad processors
• How much will it cost? The chip won't sell on its own, so it will depend on the price of the device it powers.
• When is it out? As soon as June 2022, if it is announced at WWDC 2022.

(Image credit: Future)

Apple M2: Release date

There is no official word that the Apple M2 chip even exists, so there definitely isn't an official Apple M2 release date. 

It will almost certainly power the next-generation MacBook Air (2022), which we expect to see in the next few months. Whether we'll also see an Apple M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro is another matter. 

With the recent release of the MacBook Pro 14-inch with a much more powerful processor, the case for releasing a slightly smaller MacBook Pro this soon is weaker, but not necessarily out of the question.

There's a lot of speculation that the 13-inch MacBook Pro will probably be discontinued in favor of a 14-inch MacBook Pro running the Apple M2 chip, something that might happen towards the end of 2022.

The M2 chip might also power a new Apple Mac Mini 2022. Both the Mac Mini and MacBook Air will be two years old by the end of 2022, so a refresh can be expected as soon as the middle of the year.

We've been hearing a lot about a bunch of new Mac and MacBook releases this year, so we're definitely expecting big things on the M2 front in 2022. 

(Image credit: Jon Prosser / Future)

Apple M2: Price

The Apple M2 won't sell on its own – although can you imagine if that was Apple's big play for 2022? That would be a trip.

No, the Apple M2 will only be sold as part of one of its products, so it's those device price tags that we'll be looking out for. And while the Apple M1-powered devices didn't end up being any more expensive than their predecessors as a result of the upgraded hardware, it might be too much to hope that the same will be true for the Apple M2.

Prices from a lot of hardware manufacturers in the past year have steadily increased. Whether we want to chalk that up to companies getting a fast one over on consumers, or it's because costs have actually gone up enough to drive up the prices on the finished products, things are just more expensive in 2022, and tech products especially so.

There's something about $999 / £999 that just hits different for a consumer than $1,099 / £1,099, so its entirely possible that Apple will keep its entry-level M2-powered MacBook Air configuration at that price point. 

Other configurations might be a bit more expensive to compensate, though, and the MacBook Pro devices are likely to see an across-the-board price increase. If you're a professional user, Apple won't have any qualms passing on that price increase to you.

(Image credit: Future)

Apple M2 specs and performance

While the number might be bigger, we're not expecting the Apple M2 to outperform the most recent M1 Pro and M1 Max chips. 

Those two were specifically made for professional workstations (it's called the MacBook Pro after all), and it looks for all intents and purposes that the MX designations will power consumer devices, while the MX Pro and MX Max chips will power the higher-end workstations.

This will likely only matter in terms of the graphics and neural processing components of the SoC, which a MacBook Air or an iPad Pro don't need nearly as much grunt as a MacBook Pro used for video editing or 3D modeling work.

Still, we expect that the Apple M2 chip will have at least eight cores (4+4) with an even mix of performance and efficiency cores. It is possible that the M2 processor will have as many cores, though, but not one as powerful as last year's M1 Pro and M1 Max. 

The reason why we think there will be a bump up in the processor core counts is all about Intel Alder Lake. With the release of Intel's latest mobile processors, Intel has a highly competitive product to go against Apple's silicon in the consumer laptop market. Without Alder Lake, Apple could probably get away with the same number of cores, but make some changes around the edges and call it a day. 

With Intel Alder Lake mobile chips featuring up to 12-cores / 20 threads, the Apple M2 will need to work a little harder to keep pace with Intel's chips, as both companies move aggressively to shore up their laptop market share in 2022.

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