A brand new report from a revered Apple insider means that the corporate is planning to launch a spate of latest Macs and MacBooks in 2023, together with a Mac Professional, iMac… and two MacBook Airs.

Whereas rumors of a brand new iMac and Mac Professional make quite a lot of sense, since these are two merchandise that haven’t been up to date for some time, the suggestion that there will even be new MacBook Airs so quickly after the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) launched is extra troubling.

Let’s begin with the excellent news (assuming this report is correct). Mark Gurman, writing for Boomberg (opens in new tab), claims a 24-inch iMac 2023 is in a sophisticated state of growth. Protecting the identical design (together with the favored shade schemes) because the earlier iMac (24-inch, 2021), this new model will apparently get an replace to its {hardware}, with the M1 chip of the 2021 mannequin upgraded to the M2 – and even an unreleased M3 chip.

Based on Gurman, there will even be different inside adjustments, primarily to the structure of parts. Whereas he doesn’t speculate, this may very well be to assist enhance airflow to maintain the brand new {hardware} cool.

As I discussed, that each one is sensible. With the final iMac popping out two years in the past, and the M1 having been outdated by the M2, it now appears like the appropriate time to replace the iMac – particularly as Gurman suggests we gained’t see the brand new iMac on cabinets till the latter half of this yr.

Lastly, a Mac Professional may very well be on its means

Gurman additionally says that Apple will lastly launch a brand new Mac Professional in 2023, and that will probably be the primary of Apple’s super-powerful desktop workstation PCs to be powered by Apple’s personal chips, after it parted methods with Intel.

Once more, this is sensible, because the Mac Professional is likely one of the few Mac merchandise (alongside the 27-inch iMac and iMac Professional) that has but to have a brand new launch powered by Apple silicon. With the final Mac Professional launched in 2019, it’s a product that actually feels prefer it may do with an replace.

The rumors counsel it can additionally function an incredibly-powerful M2 Extremely chip, with 24 CPU cores, 76 GPU cores, and help for as much as 192GB of reminiscence.

We’ve not heard something about an M2 Extremely chip, but when Apple employs the identical design because the M1 Extremely (which debuted with the Mac Studio in 2022), it can doubtless be two M2 Max chips joined by way of an ultra-fast connection to primarily make one massive, extremely {powerful} chip.

I can positively see this occurring, and a brand new Mac Professional can be a perfect product for a chip of this calibre. To this point, Gurman’s rumors about Apple’s 2023 Mac plans sound promising. Nonetheless, there’s additionally some information that I’m much less blissful about…

A yearly MacBook Air? No thanks

Based on Gurman, Apple can be planning on releasing not one, however two MacBook Airs in 2023. This information is extra puzzling, on condition that the most recent mannequin, the MacBook Air (M2, 2022), is lower than a yr outdated, and got here with a significant redesign and new M2 chips.

Based on Gurman, Apple will launch a brand new 15-inch MacBook Air this yr. Whereas I’m not too satisfied {that a} MacBook Air with a bigger display screen might be one thing many individuals are asking for (a part of the enchantment of the MacBook Air is how skinny and light-weight it’s, and a bigger display screen could impression its portability), a minimum of a mannequin with a bigger display screen would differentiate it from final yr’s mannequin.

Nonetheless, Gurman means that there might be a brand new 13-inch MacBook Air popping out in 2023 as nicely, doubtless with an M3 chip. That is the place I begin to get involved, as such a transfer would mark a swap to a yearly improve cycle for Apple’s M chips. The M1 got here out in 2020, and the M2 debuted in 2022, and that felt an inexpensive hole. Nonetheless, in my expertise, the M2 chip didn’t deliver a generational leap that will have made individuals who owned an M1-powered Mac, such because the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) really feel the necessity to improve, and that may doubtless be much more the case if Apple switches to yearly upgrades.

I can see why Apple could also be drawn to this. The MacBook Air is a giant success, and the corporate has been releasing new, up to date, iPhones yearly for ages. Nonetheless, whereas some individuals could also be okay with the thought of their iPhone turning into outdated after 12 months, the same schedule could not go down too nicely with MacBook house owners.

There’ll nearly actually be individuals who purchased the MacBook Air (M2, 2022) who will really feel a bit put out if Apple releases an up to date M3 MacBook Air so quickly after, particularly if Apple launches it with a barrage of claims about how significantly better the M3 is in comparison with the M2.

This yearly cadence may have impacts on Apple’s different Macs too – as Gurman suggests, if the M3 launches at WWDC 2023 (a yr after the M2 launch), the M3 Professional and M3 Max would seem in 2024 in new MacBook Professionals.

That would find yourself annoying much more individuals, as individuals put money into top-of-the-range MacBook Professionals on the belief that they may stay cutting-edge for some time. In fact, the discharge of M3-powered variations doesn’t make their M2 purchases out of date, however it most likely gained’t go down too nicely both.

So, if Apple thinks that as a result of it might launch yearly updates of its iPhones, it might do the identical with MacBooks, I wouldn’t be so certain. I positively gained’t be upgrading yearly, and I additionally gained’t get pleasure from feeling like my costly new MacBook is outdated after lower than a yr.