Apple is currently developing the M2, the successor to the M1 Apple silicon chip, and rumors suggest it could be made available to the world as early as this fall.
So far, we know we can at least expect the first M2 chip to be more powerful than the M1, given that this is the chip it has been conceived to replace, although it won’t pack as much power as the M1 Max or M1 Pro.
It is thought that the M2 will share the M1’s 8-core CPU, but will offer improved speed and efficiency, due to being built on TSMC’s 4-nanometer process. It is also anticipated that the M2 will have additional GPU cores, with 9 and 10-core GPU options, compared to the 7 and 8-core GPU options that the original M1 chip offered.
As for the devices the new technology could be incorporated into, speculation so far has largely drawn a connection between the M2 chip and the next version of the MacBook Air expected to break cover in mid-to-late 2022, as the MacBooks Air and Pro were among the first to make the shift to Apple silicon in November 2020.
However, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman – that ubiquitous watcher of all things Apple – has also recently suggested in his Power On newsletter that Apple could be set to release an iPad Pro with an M2 chip at some point between September and November 2022. That would seem to make a certain amount of sense, given the iPad Air’s recent upgrade to the M1 chip.
Gurman has told us to expect Apple to carry out a major upgrade for the next generation of iPad Pros, including support for MagSafe charging. As M1-equipped iPad Pros came out in May 2021, we can expect to see an update within a 16-18 month window of that.