Is Apple about to release a new lineup of Macs? Here's what we know so far

Now in the second week of October, if Apple plans to launch new Macs before the holiday season, they're almost certainly going to do so this month. Here's what we know so far about the new Macs.

According to Macrumors, it's been over 120 days since Apple released new Macs, with the M2 series chip versions of the Mac Pro, Mac Studio, and 15-inch models debuting in June, at the WWDC 2023 event. Prior to that, in January, Apple released the ‌M2‌ Pro and ‌M2‌ Max versions of the 16-inch model, along with M2/M2 Pro chip versions of Mac minis.

Meanwhile, the 13-inch ‌Air‌ and have gone without updates for over 450 days and have seen no upgrades for over 880 days (Apple unveiled the ‌iMac‌ M1 24-inch in April 2021).

In the past, Apple used to hold an annual fall event to unveil new Macs and . However, the company broke that tradition last year, so there's a possibility of a repeat this year.

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg recently told The MacRumors Show that he doesn't expect Apple to host an event in October because the company doesn't have enough new products and features to do so.

However, that doesn't mean we won't see any new Macs from Apple this year. Instead, “Apple” may opt to release new models through press releases, as they did in January 2023 for the 14-inch and 16-inch models. So what are the latest rumors about the next generation of Macs?

Mac Pro, Mac Studio, MacBook Air

In June of this year, Apple updated ‌Mac Pro‌, ‌Mac Studio‌, and ‌MacBook Air‌ 15-inch, so it's almost certain they won't be replaced by newer models in the remaining months of 2023.

However, Apple has yet to update the smaller 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ this year. The latest model in this product line was announced in June 2022, so it could be due for an update soon. According to ‌Mark Gurman‌ of Bloomberg, the 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌ could be one of the first devices to feature Apple's new M3 chip, but it's unclear whether it will appear later this year or early next year.

Exciting Updates: Mac Mini, MacBook Pro 14 inch and 16 inch

Apple refreshed the MacBook Pro 14 inch and 16 inch with ‌M2‌ Pro/M2‌ Max chips in January of this year, and most rumors suggest that their successors will be unveiled next year. According to Gurman, the next versions of these two machines are expected to feature M3 Pro and M3 Max chips and will be released no later than mid-2024.

As for the ‌Mac mini‌, Apple updated the machine with ‌M2‌/M2 Pro chips in January 2023, while models using M3 chips are not expected to appear until late 2024 at the earliest, according to Gurman.

iMac, MacBook Pro 13 inch

The current 24-inch M1 ‌iMac‌ has been around since April 2021, so many are eagerly anticipating an upgrade to this AIO PC. It's known that the iMac line hasn't received an update to the M2 chip, and rumors suggest it will switch to the more powerful M3 chip, possibly appearing later this year.

Furthermore, the 13-inch MacBook Pro was upgraded to the ‌M2‌ chip in June 2022, so it's likely to receive the M3 chip soon. However, as mentioned above, supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in September stated that Apple is unlikely to release any new MacBook models with M3 chips this year. However, Kuo only ruled out new MacBooks, so we may still see the iMac M3 appear this year.

Are you eagerly anticipating the first appearance of the Mac M3?