M1 Mac Pro reportedly scrapped as Apple plans M2 push this fall

With the M2 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air already on shelves, all eyes have turned to Apple’s desktop offerings, namely the Mac Pro and Mac mini. On the Max Tech YouTube channel, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed some new information about Apple’s upcoming slate of Macs, and what it means for the next round of M2 chips.

Regarding the M2 chip, Gurman expects the same variations as the M1—Pro, Max, and Ultra, with a possible new Extreme model for the Mac Pro—but doesn’t think it will move to a 3nm process as has been rumored. He suspects the next-generation process will arrive with the M3 chips in late 2023 or 2024.

In short, Apple has several M2 Macs planned for this fall, including a “spec bump” for the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models. Gurman expects the new laptops to get M2 Pro and M2 Max processors with the next refresh but no new features, much like the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

Also in line for a refresh this fall is the Mac mini. Gurman said Apple will be updating both the M1 Mac mini and the higher-end Intel version with M2 and M2 Pro chips, respectively, but doesn’t think the machines will have a redesign, as has been rumored. He said it would be “odd” for Apple to introduce a new Mac mini design following the launch of the Mac Studio. 

As for the long-awaited Mac Pro with Apple silicon, Gurman reveals that Apple planned to launch an M1-based Mac Pro “months ago” but “scrapped” it to work on a model with an M2. He doesn’t expect Apple to launch the high-end workstation until next year as a result of production and supply issues.

Finally, Gurman thinks Face ID on the Mac is a long way off. Despite the addition of the notch, he doesn’t expect it to come to the M2 MacBook Pro anytime soon. In fact, he thinks it’ll come to the higher-end iMac models first. That could come with the M3 iMac, since Gurman thinks Apple will skip the M2 chip in the all-in-one machine.