According to DigiTimes, Apple plans to launch a series of Mac computers using TSMC's M2 chip in the 4-nanometer process later this year to continue improving performance and power efficiency. "TSMC's 4nm process will also build Apple's M2 chip, which will power the new Mac series scheduled for launch in the second half of this year," the report said.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Twitter on Tuesday that Apple's 13-inch MacBook Pro, 24-inch iMac and Mac mini with built M2 processors are under development. At least some of these Macs are planned to be launched around May-June this year, and DigiTimes gives a time frame for the second half of 2022.
The existing M1 chip is fabricated using TSMC's 5nm process, depending on the configuration, with an 8-core CPU paired with a 7- or 8-core GPU. According to Gurman, the first M2 chip will also be an 8-core CPU, but with a faster 9-core or 10-core GPU.
Curiously, The always fairly reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said on Twitter on Tuesday that the 2022 version of the MacBook Air will still use the M1 chip, although he hinted that this may be an improved version of the chip, but did not elaborate further, the new MacBook Air will synchronously adopt a new form factor design language, have more color options, and mass production will begin at the end of the second quarter or the third quarter of this year.
Only the high-end Mac mini configuration and mac pro tower left in Apple's product line have not been updated. At this week's "Peek Performance" event, Apple predicted that a more powerful Version of the Mac Pro for Apple Silicon is in the works.