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Apple Silicon Timeline: When Do You Think Everything Releases?

imdog

imdog

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Jun 20, 2017
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So I bought the M1 Mac mini as a replacement to my late-2015 5k iMac, but I would be interested in upgrading to a Apple Silicon iMac or Mac Pro when they eventually release. Apple says the transition will take 2 years, so what do you guys think the timeline is going to look like? When do you think everything will release?

MacBook Air: November 10th 2020
MacBook Pro 13": November 10th 2020
Mac mini: November 10th 2020
MacBook Pro 14": ?
MacBook Pro 16": ?
iMac: ?
Mac Pro: ?
 
Traverse

Traverse

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Mar 11, 2013
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If I had to guess, I'd assume that the 27" iMac and Mac Pro are the last to be updated - assuming the iMac Pro goes away and the 27" iMac takes it's slot, otherwise I'd say the iMac Pro and Mac Pro are last.

I wouldn't be surprised to see the newly redesigned 21.5"/rumored 24" iMac and 16" MacBook Pro unveiled as part of WWDC 2021. The true 13"/rumored 14" MacBook Pro could either be part of a March event with iPad Pros or part of WWDC.

I think they'll either tease the iMac 27"/Pro in a fall event and release by end of 2021, but I'm not sure we'll see anything Mac Pro related until 2022 WWDC.
 
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Falhófnir

Falhófnir

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Really very little by way of leaks to go on, if the mini LED stuff is all coming next year I would say the 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pros might be in Spring alongside the iPad, or more likely at WWDC. I don't think they will want to wait a full year between the M1 release and giving the treatment to their flagship computers? When they say '2 years' people seem to think it's going to be a uniform process, but I think it's more likely we get all the mainstream Apple Silicon computers out within the first year, and the second year is discontinuing any remaining Intel models, and releasing the final AS Mac Pro/ iMac Pro top end machines. If you think about it, it would be really weird if for the next 12 months the most powerful Macs you can buy are the cheapest MacBook Pro and a Mac mini.
 
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DHagan4755

DHagan4755

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I was just thinking about this. I'm thinking that an iMac is next. Probably the rumored 24" iMac. I'm thinking the iMac & new iPad Pro with mini LEDs come before the end of March 2021. I would think after that would come the 14 & 16" MacBook Pros. Will they come at WWDC? Not sure.
 
dogslobber

dogslobber

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Oct 19, 2014
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It all depends on the performance from the ARM chips as they're overclocked and get bigger fans and heat sinks. Apple's biggest problem is they have to maintain performance advantage over Intel chips or the game is up. Right now ARM chips are built on 5nm while Intel process is pretty much 14nm. If that same 14nm was fab'd at 5nm then the performance increase would be substantial. Apple's problem is precisely how much Intel would leap and that's why Apple is in a race to the bottom here.
 
Erehy Dobon

Erehy Dobon

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Feb 16, 2018
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My guess is that the last piece of the two year Intel-ASi transition will come in fall 2022 and correspond with the release of whatever version of macOS is announced at WWDC earlier in that summer (June 2022).

Most likely this will be the Mac Pro (and maybe the iMac Pro).

Next year, I'm guessing that we'll see higher-end MacBook Pros and the iMac with a second-generation M-series processor (not a refresh of the M1). More CPU performance cores, more GPU cores, more ML cores, more maximum RAM, more USB 4/Thunderbolt 3 channels, more external display support (including 8K), etc.
 
boss.king

boss.king

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I’d guess the 4 port MBP 13” will be out either in the first half of next year by itself, or alongside the 16” and iMac in late 2021, and the Mac Pro will be right up against the 2 year deadline in 2022.
 
Boil

Boil

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Oct 23, 2018
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Two year transition, folks; everything across the entire Mac line-up gets Apple Silicon chips...

A Family of chips for the Mac platform...

M1 will be a series; M1, M1X, M1Z, M1whatever...

I could see Apple having four variants of the M1...

So far we have been shown the low-end variant, the M1...

Two more variants, each with increasing performance (and thermal envelope) to cover the laptops/iMacs/mini, and the largest / highest performance for the (smaller) Mac Pro...

And possibly for a 32" iMac Pro based on the XDR display, $999 stand included...

LOL, that would be silly, it would have to be a $10K base model...!!!

Low-end - 13" MacBook Air / 13" MacBook Pro / Mac mini

All Low-end have two USB4 ports, all Low-midrange & up have four USB4 ports...

Low-midrange - Mac mini / 24" iMac / 14" MacBook Pro

High-midrange - 27" iMac / 16" MacBook Pro

High-end - iMac Pro / Mac Pro

The iMac Pro could be any one of the following sizes; 27", 30", or 32" XDR...

But if they do a XDR-based iMac Pro, it for sure better have Target Display Mode (and the ability to then use the internals as a headless server / render node)...!

Low-end - already out

Low-midrange - Q2 2021

High-midrange - Q4 2021 / Q1 2022

High-end - announced Q2 2022 / shipping Q4 2022

Apple will run each generation of M-series APUs for two years, with product stack roll-out very similar to the above outlined transition...!

iPhones / iPads are refreshed every year or 18 months, but they also sell way more, people want the latest & greatest; but Macs are more expensive, and folks are used to making a "computer" last longer than a phone or tablet, so a two year cycle for Apple Silicon Macs...
 
sputnikBA

sputnikBA

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Jan 2, 2018
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  1. beginning of 2 year transition - replace the lower level Macs that relied iGPUs [M1]
  2. middle of transition - replace the higher thermal envelope Macs that had dGPUs [M1 + dGPU]
  3. end of 2 year transition - replace the pro level Macs (Mac Pro / iMac Pro) [M2 + dGPU], also second generation iGPU Macs [M2]
The dGPU replacements will probably have HBM + some special accommodations that developers will want to tap into so probably not worth expecting them before WWDC as details will get explained there. Maybe there are also multi-chip solutions and some kind of interconnect like AMD's infinity fabric etc. This way they could put multiple CPU's and a GPU together and still have some kind of UMA.
 
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