News items you should check out: March 14

Since I can’t cover everything, I’ll often direct your attention to articles of interest.

° From the Power On Newsletter by Bloomberg’s Mac Gurman: I am told there will be at least two or three new Macs launched around the middle of the year—with M2 versions of the MacBook Air, Mac mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro and 24-inch iMac in development for release across this year.

° From AppleInsider: The Apple Silicon Mac Pro may follow the lead of the Mac Studio’s M1 Ultra, a rumor claims, by effectively combining two M1 Ultra chips into a single 40-core SoC.

° From MacRumors: A group of UK network operators have formally urged the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) to regulate iCloud Private Relay, claiming that Apple’s privacy service is anti-competitive, potentially bad for users, and a threat to national security.

° From AP News: China’s government responded Sunday to a spike in coronavirus infections by shutting down its southern business center of Shenzhen, a city of 17.5 million people, and restricted access to Shanghai by suspending bus service. This could impact Mac Studio shipments.

° From the Gartner research group: Sixty percent of U.S. consumers believe that brands should reconsider doing business in Russia or partnering with Russian companies in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to Gartner, Inc.