Something to look forward to: With Apple having released the last chip in its current M1 lineup earlier this year---the M1 Ultra---the company is working on its next in-house SoC: the M2. According to a recent report, Cupertino is preparing nine new Macs that will feature the processor and its variants.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman writes that Apple has begun widespread internal testing of several new Macs with the upcoming M2 chips, which are said to be produced on TSMC's 4nm process node. The nine models, fitted with four different M2-based SoCs, include a new MacBook Air that will feature eight CPU cores and ten graphics cores.
There will also be an entry-level MacBook Pro with the same specs as the Air, along with 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros with 64GB of memory and M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, the latter of which will feature 12 CPU cores and 38 graphics cores, up from 10 and 32 found in the current M1 Max.
Finally, there's a Mac Pro that will pack the successor to the mighty M1 Ultra chip found in the Mac Studio.
Gurman says Apple is testing a Mac mini, too---possibly the one we heard about earlier this week---with the same M1 Pro chip found in the latest entry-level 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. It also tested an M1 Max version of the Mac mini, but neither may make it into the hands of consumers, given the Mac Studio's existence.
The report comes after a previous piece from Gurman in February that claimed no fewer than four M2-powered Macs were set to launch this year
There was no word of the reported 15-inch Apple device that's somewhere between an Air and Pro yet carries neither name. We might find out more about Apple's plans during the all-digital WWDC between June 6 - 10.