Apple's First M3 MacBooks Coming Next Year, Claims Shipment Forecast

[MacRumors]

Apple will release its first MacBooks based on TSMC's 3nm fabrication process in 2024, not this year as some rumors have suggested. That's according to a new five-year global notebook shipments forecast published by DigiTimes.

Predicting an end to a two-year decline in the notebook market, the report forecasts a 4.7% shipment growth in 2024 driven by the easing of inflation and the introduction of new products, including new MacBooks powered by 3nm-based chips. From the report:

In 2023, the share of notebooks built using Arm-based processors will likely decrease rather than increase because Apple, which adopts in-house designed Arm-based CPUs for most of its notebook lineups, is expected to experience a significant decline in shipments in 2023 as the US brand vendor plans to transit to CPUs built by a 3nm node at TSMC for performance upgrading in 2024.

In July, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said October of this year could see the announcement of the first Macs with the M3 chip. Given that Apple launched new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models in January, and more recently new 15-inch ‌MacBook Air‌, ‌Mac Studio‌, and ‌Mac Pro‌ models in June, Gurman said the first beneficiaries of the new M3 chip would likely be the next ‌iMac‌, 13-inch ‌MacBook Air‌, and 13-inch MacBook Pro.

However, more recently in September, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that it seemed Apple will not launch new MacBook models with M3 series chips before the end of this year. Kuo only ruled out new MacBooks though, which appears to leave open the possibility of a new iMac coming this year. The current model featuring the M1 chip has now been on sale for over two and a half years.

DigiTimes itself recently suggested Apple would make a MacBook Pro announcement before the holidays. The Taiwan-based outlet earlier this month claimed Apple is preparing to ship new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with more power-efficient mini-LED displays before the year is out. That report did not mention the processor the models would be based on, but Gurman has previously said the next version of these two machines will feature M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, and that they will "probably" launch by the middle of 2024 at the latest.

• Will Apple Release New Macs Soon? Here's What the Latest Rumors Say

The as-yet-unannounced M3 chip is widely expected to be fabricated with TSMC's 3nm process for performance and power efficiency improvements compared to the current 5nm-based ‌M2‌ chip, which debuted in June 2022. It will also likely feature an all new GPU with hardware ray-tracing, first introduced on the iPhone 15 Pro's A17 Pro chip last month.

Article Link: Apple's First M3 MacBooks Coming Next Year, Claims Shipment Forecast

 

[thewhitehart]

Aww. I had my fingers crossed for a new 13” MacBook Air.

 

[iZac]

Coal in Tim's non-denominational-holiday-themed stocking this year

Jokes aside, this is a shame but not unexpected considering how the M2 rumours slipped.

Then again, maybe we've got it all wrong, and Apple are trying to pivot Mac updates to Spring/Summer and iThing updates to Autumn/Winter?

 

[adammusic]

How much faster & better will an m3 be over m2? Wait or buy m2 on Black Friday?

 

[Wig321]

M3 Ultra 3nm can also be used to heat a hot tub

 

[MayaUser]

M3 Ultra 3nm can also be used to heat a hot tub

View attachment 2293814

why the M3 Ultra 3N and not the Intel+nvidia gpu combo?! M2 ultra barely reach 39-40C under full load

 

[b.la]

This surely isn’t news anymore?

 

[MayaUser]

what about an M3 ipad ? pro or air

 

[loby]

Spring for M3 MacBooks. For an update to 3mn architecture, Apple will have an event to showcase the improvements.

MacBook Pro 13” and MacBook Air 13” first..maybe Mac mini too.

Then..

June/July…M3 Ultra and Max for 14” & 16” MacBook Pros

Maybe Mac Studio and Mac Pro also at that time.

Don’t need to be a rumor guy to guess that..

 

[t0rqx]

Seeing how the A17 turned out. Better fix this S. As they have been saving on thermal paste.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

Digitimes should be renamed to: Contradiction Times

 

[anakin44011]

How much faster & better will an m3 be over m2? Wait or buy m2 on Black Friday?

For about 98% of use cases…If you already have an M1 or better, you are fine. If you have an Intel, upgrade now.

 

[Leon Ze Professional]

M3 Ultra 3nm can also be used to heat a hot tub

View attachment 2293814

Nah, this is an Intel picture. Proudly powered by there overheating CPU.

 

[giggles]

No M3 before the last M2 product (Vision Pro) is out.

Doesn't take a genius.

 

[Dremmel]

Cannot wait! the Macbook series are the best laptops ever ... and I tried 100s since the 80s

 

[DHagan4755]

It wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t see M3 until 2024 however Apple seems to be on an 18 month cycle with M-series chips. That said it would be peculiar if Apple had nothing to show this fall for the Mac. It would be disappointing.

Apple is still selling the M1 Air it announced 3 years ago. If no MacBooks arrive this fall I’d expect Apple to at least release an M3 iMac & perhaps another 13” MacBook Air price reduction by discontinuing the M1 Air & putting the M2 Air at the $999 price point.

 

[bLackjackj]

Okay, congratulations,..so everyone has now hedged their bets on both sides of the fence. 🤦‍♂️...let's just leave it at Coming Soon.

 

[CalMin]

How much faster & better will an m3 be over m2? Wait or buy m2 on Black Friday?

Only Apple knows. Expect 15-20% boost on some benchmark's. Perhaps slightly better battery life. Kind of like M1 to M2 which despite being faster is barely noticeable for most daily computing tasks.

I’d just get one now if you need a computer. M1/M2 are spectacular if you’re coming from an older IntelMac. An M3 won’t do anything an M1/M2 can’t do.

 

[orbital~debris]

Autumn landing zone cleared for iMac M3 🖥️

🤞

 

[xnu]

Ray tracing, oh my gosh. But does it run Pixar's Junior Lamp?

 

[Lioness~]

First I thought the M3 MBA would come this year, but that feeling dropped. No M3 MBA for me this year.
Ah well, it works to buy HomePods to get the great feeling of new Apple stuff too.
My MBA still can fit my needs awhile longer, as for now it stays on Ventura too out of software reasons.

M3 MBA maybe mid 2024 for me then, works for me.

 

[iPay]

Mother Nature: How come chips with lower consumption always end up with more heating problems?

 

[adammusic]

Only Apple knows. Expect 15-20% boost on some benchmark's. Perhaps slightly better battery life. Kind of like M1 to M2 which despite being faster is barely noticeable for most daily computing tasks.

I’d just get one now if you need a computer. M1/M2 are spectacular if you’re coming from an older IntelMac. An M3 won’t do anything an M1/M2 can’t do.

I would be coming from a late 2008 white Macbook lol

 

[Wanted797]

It wouldn’t surprise me if we don’t see M3 until 2024 however Apple seems to be on an 18 month cycle with M-series chips. That said it would be peculiar if Apple had nothing to show this fall for the Mac. It would be disappointing.

Apple is still selling the M1 Air it announced 3 years ago. If no MacBooks arrive this fall I’d expect Apple to at least release an M3 iMac & perhaps another 13” MacBook Air price reduction by discontinuing the M1 Air & putting the M2 Air at the $999 price point.

Even a M2 iMac would be nice.

 

[Wanted797]

I was hoping next year with back to university deals I’d be able to nab a M3 Air and AirPods. But alas it makes sense they’d do it after this.