Well, the new year has come, the US has a new President, and tech pundits are grasping at straws, dreaming about the next iteration of products powered by Apple Silicon.
Name
Some people are expecting the second round of devices to run on the M1X, other the M2. It is completely possible, that Apple will continue to call the first-generation SoCs M1, as they don’t currently differentiate between the 7 core GPU’s M1s and the ones with 8 GPU cores. However, if memory controllers, external PCIe lanes, or additional connectivity are to be included, I do expect a name change. I’m not partial to the “X” moniker, as I think it is quite clunky, and really never liked it when Apple used “Z” either. If it is still going to remain M1(something), I do hope is something easy to remember or market. I’m hoping they are called M2, as I would assume this next release would actually be a second generation device, and perhaps with DDR5, that is being seen in Intel prototypes, along with the unified memory.
Models
The rumors keep pointing towards a 24″ iMac, and 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros. I for one would like to see the iMac remain at 21.5″, which seems optimal for a smaller iMac. A 24″ might be nice for a mid-tier machine. At 21″, with smaller bezels, we could have a smaller form factor iMac, which if the Mac Mini’s logic board is any roadmap, would be an easy thing to do without discrete graphics, and even if there was discrete graphics, I doubt it would need to be much larger, unless using an MXM card.
Connections
Rumors also keep circulating about new models having USB Type A ports and MagSafe. Apple has spent the last 5 years using USB-C as the one-size-fits-most interface, I don’t suspect Apple will be changing anything anytime soon. As for MagSafe, there are two possibilities… an interface to use the MagSafe pucks that were introduced with the iPhone 12, or a USB-C breakaway connector, using magnets for safety.
I suspect we’ll have to wait until March to see what Apple releases.