Following rumors Monday that Apple would make a rare January launch announcement today, more information has arrived on what to expect. MacRumors reporter Sami Fathi has confidently predicted that there will be two new products sent to reviewers instead of one.
Replying to the tweet, Fathi said a new iMac was unlikely to appear (“not until M3 I think”), ruled out new monitors and joked about AirPower, but ultimately settled on the most likely candidates, the MacBook Pro and Mac mini, which matches our own predictions.
Given that Fathi is a journalist (and social media manager) rather than a leaker, it’s not clear what his sources are for these predictions, nor why he just thinks we’re getting those specific Macs, but does he present the theory of two products as proven fact. But MacRumors as a whole seems surprisingly confident about the launch. In Monday’s news report, which used a Jon Prosser tweet as its premise, the site said it “could confirm that an announcement is expected to take place this week,” and that it had “also learned that Apple will provide briefings later this week.” keep up with members of the press and media on the new devices,” again refusing to explain how it erases these things.
But even without specified sources, the apparently independent confirmation between Prosser and MacRumors now makes this a strong prediction. Given the sheer weight of unreleased products clogging the assembly line, it makes sense that Apple would want to use a normally quiet month to announce some launches, although the lack of a special event makes us suspect these won’t be groundbreaking. are. Products; spec bumps are fit for a press release, but a complete redesign would be a surprise.
For this reason, the hugely important AR/VR headset is unlikely to appear this week; instead, it’s expected to get the lion’s share of stage time during the spring event in March or April. The importance of that product may be why Apple wants some less exciting products out the door before then.
They may not be exciting, but subsequent versions of the Mac mini and MacBook Pro are still quietly significant releases. The 2023 Mac mini is expected to have an M2 processor with eight CPU cores and 10 GPU cores, and may feature a new, slimmer design (although a press release makes that less likely). The 2023 MacBook Pro models, meanwhile, are expected to remain “about the same” on the outside, but their internal upgrades will make them “worth the wait,” according to sources.
