According to a Bloomberg report, Apple has started “widespread internal testing” of “several” new Macs with next-generation M2 processors.
The article says the tech giant is testing at least nine new Macs with four different M2-based chips. They include:
° A MacBook Air with an M2 chip that features an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU;
°A Mac mini with the M2 chip and a variant with the M2 Pro chip;
° An entry-level 13-inch MacBook Pro with M2 chip;
° 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. The M2 Max chip features a 12-core GPU and 38-core GPU, along with 64GB Memory.
° A Mac Pro that will include a successor to the M1 Ultra used in the Mac Studio.
Bloomberg says that Apple has also tested an M1 Max version of the Mac mini, but it might never see the light of day. The next rev of the mini may sport M2 and M2 Pro processors.
There have been reports that Apple will keep the same 8 CPU cores as on the M1, but may add more GPU cores to beef up its capabilities of For example, in May 2021 Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman suggested that the M2, will include the same eight cores as the M1 chip, but it will run faster.
However, a CPU Ninja report says that the M1 Ultra comes with 20 cores which is already better than the 10 cores in the M1 Max, so the M2 will probably have 20 cores or more.
The article says this to say: With 20, the split should look like this: 4 efficiency cores combined with 16 performance cores, similar to Intel’s Alder Lake series. This will help MacBooks preserve their battery, but also provide power through the performance cores when needed.
