Again in early October 2022, a month after Apple’s most up-to-date product launch occasion, I wrote:

I’m questioning if Apple might be skipping its second fall occasion this yr, as an alternative selecting to announce no matter (if something) it plans to solely through press releases. And if that’s the case, I’m wondering what this may say about Apple’s present expertise and product well being: is it having difficulties taping out higher-end Professional and Max variants of the M2 SoC unveiled in June, following within the footsteps of the M1 and its M1 Professional and Max greater siblings, for instance? And/or is foundry accomplice TSMC having issues getting them to yield sufficiently to permit for system manufacturing primarily based on them? And talking of M2-based methods, is an Apple Silicon-based successor to the legacy x86-based Mac Professional and/or iMac Professional nonetheless within the playing cards for 2022? Inquiring minds wish to know.

I as an alternative crammed that early-October editorial “slot” with protection of the newest from Amazon and Google. Because it seems, I used to be proper; there (atypically) was no second Apple fall occasion in 2022 (though as you’ll quickly see, there’s intriguing proof that one was initially deliberate). As an alternative, since September all we’ve gotten is a string of press releases, which is…fascinating. And as I write these phrases in late February 2023, there’s been no trace of an upcoming (typical) spring occasion, both. Judging from the regular stream of leaks, Apple seemingly continues to work on its upcoming “blended actuality” headset, initially rumored to be launched this spring, though the newest prognostications peg it for this summer season’s yearly Worldwide Developer Convention (WWDC). Reality be informed, WWDC is the place I at all times suspected the “reveal” would occur, since new product platforms rely closely on third-party app and repair embraces for fulfillment.

That each one stated, Apple’s press release-unveiled merchandise are nonetheless fascinating, a minimum of considerably and a minimum of a few of them. I’ll start with the M2 Professional and Max follow-ons to the baseline M2 SoC unveiled finally June’s WWDC. For chronological comparability functions, right here’s when the M1 SoC household rolled out:

The twin-die transposer-linked M2 Extremely (to not point out the rumored quad-die M2 Excessive) haven’t arrived but and, if rumors are to be believed, may never appear. However the M2 Professional and Max are right here, as of mid-January. Conceptually, the evolutionary path is harking back to that within the earlier M1 household trajectory:

• The “Professional” variant has extra CPU cores, together with an altered performance-vs-efficiency core proportion, than the baseline precursor, together with extra graphics cores, whereas
• The “Max” variant is equivalent to its “Professional” sibling from a CPU subsystem standpoint, albeit with a doubled-up graphics subsystem.

Each units’ architectural upgrades include commensurate bigger transistor-count budgets, with all three members of the family on a standard “second-generation 5 nm” lithography basis (and benefitting from frequent M2-family enhancements over M1 predecessors). Particularly:

M2:

• 8-core CPU (4 “efficiency”, 4 “effectivity”)
• Up-to-10 (practical) graphics cores
• 20 billion transistors

M2 Professional:

• Up-to-12 (practical)-core CPU (6 or 8 “efficiency”, 2 “effectivity”)
• Up-to-19 (practical) graphics cores
• 40 billion transistors

M2 Max:

• Up-to-12 (practical)-core CPU (6 or 8 “efficiency”, 2 “effectivity”)
• Up-to-38 (practical) graphics cores
• 67 billion transistors

When you’re questioning why I repeatedly clarified these units of specs with the phrase “(practical)”, enable me to elucidate. When you have a look at a die shot of the M2 Professional, for instance, you’ll see all 12 CPU cores and 19 graphics cores current there. However every of them takes up a not-insignificant chunk of silicon space, resulting in a statistically not-insignificant likelihood {that a} fabrication flaw (particulate, and so forth.) will find yourself inside one among them versus elsewhere on the die. In such a case, as an alternative of discarding your entire sliver of silicon, Apple and its manufacturing companions “fuse” off the flawed circuitry and ship the chip as a lower-core-count, lower-priced product choice.

This technique, additionally generally used (for instance) by graphics chip firms, is why the M2 Execs inside Apple’s methods are available variations with each six- and eight-“efficiency” CPU cores, together with sixteen- and nineteen-graphics core allocations (at the moment, a minimum of: further future proliferations are in fact additionally attainable). The SoC’s “effectivity” CPU cores, in distinction, will not be solely few in quantity but additionally comparatively tiny, and are due to this fact comparatively proof against flaw-induced failures. Such a method may appear wasteful at first look, and in a way, it’s: you find yourself solely with large-die chips that eat extra foundry wafers than plenty of smaller-die chips would require. However you additionally scale back the variety of “line objects” that not solely must be designed upfront however should even be ongoingly managed all through the provision chain.

About that “19” graphics core rely; sure, I agree, it’s an odd quantity to see for us engineers who’re used to encountering solely even counts of issues (and power-of-two ones, at that). However based on Apple, that’s the precise variety of cores on the die, and the optimum quantity from a format effectivity standpoint. And relating to my earlier query, “Is Apple having difficulties taping out higher-end Professional and Max variants of the M2 SoC unveiled in June?”, in equity I ought to level out that my last-fall considerations right here have been for naught. The delay from the launch of the M2 SoC (together with methods containing it) to that of the M2 Professional/Max ended up being seven months; the prior launch cadence from the M1 to the M1 Professional/Max was 11 months.

About these methods…Apple additionally unveiled a number of in January: 14” and 16” MacBook Pros based on the M2 Pro and Max SoCs:

together with upgraded variants of the Apple Silicon-based Mac mini containing both M2 and M2 Pro processor options:

The M2 Professional model of the mac Mini, whose bottom is proven right here, was most fascinating to me. For one factor, as you possibly can see, it (in contrast to its M1 and base M2 siblings) addressed the comparative-I/O and -maximum pushed shows shortcoming versus the prior-generation Intel-based mac Mini that I’ve talked about earlier than. For one more, benchmark testing I’ve seen means that it’s a compelling various to the M1 Max model of the Mac Studio launched a yr in the past, whereas on the similar time being not solely extra svelte but additionally decrease priced. This isn’t the one scenario the place the Mac Studio appears to already be getting squeezed…maintain that thought a bit.

However talking of value, until you possibly can’t afford something extra, I’d recommend staying away from the lowest-end M2 Mac mini. Not solely does it comprise solely 8 GBytes of RAM and a 256 GByte SSD (each non-upgradeable), the SSD is (following in the footsteps of the M2 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro) slower than the same-capacity SSD within the M1 precursor. Common readers already know that I’m not shy about shaming Apple for exhibiting obsolescence by design each time I feel it’s occurring, however on this case I feel the basis trigger is extra harmless.

As I’ve talked about earlier than, a bigger variety of concurrently accessible flash reminiscence die (and chips primarily based on them) inside a SSD generally results in increased total efficiency, assuming the media administration controller is able to exploiting this parallelism potential. Stability that, nonetheless, in opposition to the truth that reminiscence chips are getting more and more dense due to shrinking fabrication lithographies (together with ever-more unique multi-level cell knowledge storage strategies, though I don’t assume the latter is an element on this specific case). The bottom-capacity SSD within the M2 mac Mini has half the chips of that within the comparable-capacity M1 predecessor, main (I believe) to the retrograde pace.

As I alluded to in a latest teardown, Apple additionally resurrected the full-size HomePod in January:

When you’re considering that it appears identical to the first-generation HomePod, launched in mid-2017 and discontinued within the spring of 2021, you’d be virtually proper; they’re near-identical save for slight dimensional variances. And addressing my earlier criticism, the redesigned model does include a $50 lower cost tag ($299 for the second-gen versus $349 for the first-gen), though think about that the aggressive high-end Amazon Echo Studio is nonetheless $100 much less ($199) regular-priced, and is recurrently promotion-discounted even additional. Presumably to decrease the BOM price, Apple lowered the variety of tweeters from seven (first-gen) to 5 (second-gen); that stated, reviewers report that the 2 variations sound near-identical. The second-gen unit additionally back-steps from a Wi-Fi perspective, from 802.11ac to 802.11n. And including additional insult to harm, the 2 generations can’t be paired to each other in a stereo configuration, presumably due a minimum of partially to their differing SoC foundations (iPhone-tailored A8 vs watch-tailored S7). Or possibly Apple simply needs you to retire your first-gen HomePod and purchase a substitute, too…

Oh, by the way in which…I earlier “teased” that though there was no second Apple fall occasion in 2022, there’s intriguing proof that one was initially deliberate. Right here’s the again story. Together with the varied press releases revealed in January 2023, Apple additionally unveiled a slick 18-minute accompanying video harking back to those carried out at prior digital occasions, and centered on the brand new M2-based methods (harking back to the methods launched at prior October occasions):

That video, it seems, contained metadata dating from October 2022. Eureka!

Thus concludes January 2023. However these weren’t the solely merchandise Apple’s launched since its final occasion in early September 2022. October 2022 did convey us a couple of extra press releases: of a new baseline iPad in four (vibrant, so say Apple’s marketeers) color options:

Upgraded 11” and 12.9” iPad Pros based on the M2 SoC (at a time, candidly, when the efficiency potential of their M1-based precursors remains to be largely going untapped, even with latest-generation iPadOS 16):

And a next-generation Apple TV 4K that starts at $129, in distinction to (for instance) Roku’s high-end 2022-model Extremely set-top field at $30 lower than this (99.99) regularly-priced, and, just like the Echo Studio I discussed earlier, regularly promo-priced even notably lower:

As you possibly can most likely inform, I used to be underwhelmed.

This all results in “what’s subsequent” ponderings. I’ve already talked about the “blended actuality” headset. However what about computer systems, and the chips they’re primarily based on? As I mentioned in June 2022, and remains to be the case as I write these phrases almost a yr later, Apple has blown well beyond its unique “two yr” forecast to transform its complete computing product line from Intel to Apple Silicon. With the aforementioned launch of the M2 Professional-based Mac mini, one more Intel-based bowling pin has fallen. However the Intel-based Mac Professional stays standing. And even when Apple forcefully topples it over, its clients may not be happy with what takes its place.

Right here’s my take. For years now, the majority of Apple’s computing portfolio has consisted of merchandise (numerous MacBook variants, together with the iMac and Mac mini) that have been:

• Modestly highly effective at-best
• Typically power- (if battery-operated) and/or thermal- (if small type issue) constrained, and
• Hardly ever if ever end-user upgraded, assuming they may even be

Seems, Apple’s Arm-based SoCs have been just about excellent for such eventualities. However high-end skilled (content-creation, and so forth.) methods just like the Mac Professional are a very totally different beast. Their customers have lengthy been “skilled”, and due to this fact now have the cheap expectation, that not solely will these methods be wicked-fast (buying and selling off energy consumption and warmth dissipation within the course of), they’ll even be long-term upgradeable: higher-capacity mass storage, extra RAM, newer and extra highly effective graphics playing cards, oodles of growth busses and I/O, and so forth.

These aspirations, sadly for Apple, don’t line up effectively in opposition to methods primarily based on extremely built-in SoCs with non-upgradeable graphics and dallops of reminiscence. And right here’s one other factor: I already talked about earlier that the newest Mac minis are squeezing the just-introduced-a-year-ago Mac Studio from beneath. I’m assuming that, given how lengthy Apple’s been promising us an Arm-based Mac Professional, the corporate will ultimately be compelled to observe by means of and ship one thing. But when it’s as non-upgradeable as I believe it will likely be, gained’t it additionally squeeze the Mac Studio from above? And if that’s the case, why’d Apple even trouble introducing the Mac Studio? Then once more, we’ve been right here earlier than: the corporate was compelled (IMHO) to unveil a “Professional” iMac variant to fill the time hole between the underwhelming “trash can” Mac Professional and its belated successor.

Different rumors embody a finally-15” variant of the MacBook Air and an SoC-upgraded (24”?) iMac, one of many first Apple Silicon-based computer systems Apple launched however, as I write these phrases, subsequently nonetheless caught on the M1 era. We will see. Till subsequent time (WWDC?), I sit up for your ideas within the feedback!

—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line publication.

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