How do you think Apple's regular release schedule will look for Apple Silicon Macs vs previous Intel Macs?

[xxray]

A lot of people speculated that a main reason Apple grew frustrated with Intel and wanted to switch to their own chips was how slow Intel's progress and releases were going. Those years of 2016-2018 were dark for Apple and the Mac specifically. Most of the Apple product line was over a year old at one point, with a good amount of products being multiple years old without an update.

So anyways, I was wondering, how do you think Apple's release schedule will look for Macs now that they're on their own chip design? On one hand, I can see them updating quickly and consistently on about a 1 year timeline since they have more control over the process and they do it for iPhone and iPads anyways. On the other hand, the M1 Macs are so ahead of the game already, that it almost seems weird to be updating to M2 for the lower-end MacBook Pros/Air/Mac minis within a year. It also seems like it'd be a lot of chips for Apple to update yearly with multiple chips for multiple Mac lines, iPad chips, and iPhone chips.

 

[grahamwright1]

I suspect that the new releases for the next year or so will be the mid-range and high-end systems (iMac and MacPro replacements). An update to the low end (current M1) systems will probably be about 2 years out.

 

[velocityg4]

Hopefully better than the 2013 Mac Pro, 2017 iMac Pro and 2014 Mac Mini timetables. I think the hottest selling models will get yearly updates. Higher end models with lower unit sales will probably be every other year.

 

[Seanm87]

I think it will be the same as the iPhone where they have an event each year probably October/November time. Now they control the chips they can do this.

 

[zedsdead]

I think it will be more similar to the iPad release (1.5 years) schedule since that is the basis of the Mac chips. The upper end machines maybe in the two year timeframe.

 

[Moakesy]

A lot of people speculated that a main reason Apple grew frustrated with Intel and wanted to switch to their own chips was how slow Intel's progress and releases were going. Those years of 2016-2018 were dark for Apple and the Mac specifically. Most of the Apple product line was over a year old at one point, with a good amount of products being multiple years old without an update.

So anyways, I was wondering, how do you think Apple's release schedule will look for Macs now that they're on their own chip design? On one hand, I can see them updating quickly and consistently on about a 1 year timeline since they have more control over the process and they do it for iPhone and iPads anyways. On the other hand, the M1 Macs are so ahead of the game already, that it almost seems weird to be updating to M2 for the lower-end MacBook Pros/Air/Mac minis within a year. It also seems like it'd be a lot of chips for Apple to update yearly with multiple chips for multiple Mac lines, iPad chips, and iPhone chips.

It's a good question, and partly answered by whatever AS pricing strategy Apple go for.

After most machines have been upgraded to offer AS, do they then differentiate by model....where the fastest chips are only available in the highest spec MBP's...

..or do they allow quite a bit of crossover....so the M3 chip can be ordering in the MBA (big cost option), the 14" (lower cost option) and 16" MBP (standard chip)?

Not really thought about it before, but somehow they have to find something that people find worth paying out more $$ to go with the top end machines.

 

[velocityg4]

It's a good question, and partly answered by whatever AS pricing strategy Apple go for.

After most machines have been upgraded to offer AS, do they then differentiate by model....where the fastest chips are only available in the highest spec MBP's...

..or do they allow quite a bit of crossover....so the M3 chip can be ordering in the MBA (big cost option), the 14" (lower cost option) and 16" MBP (standard chip)?

Not really thought about it before, but somehow they have to find something that people find worth paying out more $$ to go with the top end machines.

The MBP 16 has a lot more room for battery and cooling. It seems likely that it will use a higher TDP chip, thus different than the other models. It could possibly also have a second discrete graphics AS chip.

 

[bobmans]

Once every Mac is transitioned to AS, I suspect they will follow a 2 year update schedule.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I think the consumer focused lines, like the MBA, will be annual-ish bumps (12-18 months - similar to iPads)

 

[Jorbanead]

Good question! I think the consumer products will get annual bumps. While the headless products may get 18-24 months between updates. It makes sense to do yearly updates for the popular products, but the Mac mini and Mac Pro just don’t sell enough units to warrant a yearly update cycle. Plus chip design would probably prefer a 2 year cycle for the highest-end chips.

MBA, MBP, iMac - 12 month cycles

Mac mini, Mac Pro - 18-24 month cycles

 

[turbineseaplane]

I'm honestly hoping the spec bumps are annual, at the worst..

If there is newer, better, chip tech that Apple has, I want that as soon as they'll give it.

Given that they never adjust prices down over time, we should all want that or we end up with product lines that are overpriced for what they offer after about 8-10 months for sale.