Apple working on 18-month update cycles for silicon chips

Apple M2

Apple is reportedly working on an 18-month update cycle for its silicon chips, rather than the 12-month cycle that it uses for the Apple Watch and iPhone, suggesting less frequent Mac updates.

According to the Taiwanese Commercial Times, Apple plans to update the Mac silicon chips – currently the M1, M1 Pro, and M1 Max – every 18 months, which would correspond to previous rumors. Apple is already poised to announce a new MacBook Air featuring an M2 chip in the second quarter of 2022, and according to this report, the M2 Pro and M2 Max chips are likely to follow in Q2 of 2022.

“According to sources in the supply chain industry, Apple Silicon will be updated every 18 months in the future. In the second half of 2022, Apple will first launch the M2 processor code-named Staten, and in the first half of 2023, it will launch the new M2X processor architecture code-named Rhodes, and release two processors such as M2 Pro and M2 Max according to the different graphics cores,” the report said.

“Apple’s M2 series processors all use the 4-nanometer process, and will be updated to the M3 series processors after an 18-month cycle. It is expected that they will be mass-produced using TSMC’s 3-nanometer process.”

Apple first announced the M1 chip in November 2020, and has since followed it up with the M1 Pro and M1 Max, included in the new MacBook Pro models. It’s thought that alongside a new MacBook Air, Apple is working on a new iMac Pro to be released in the first half of the year.

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