Report: M2 MacBook Air and MacBook Pro coming later this year

Macbook Air M1 (Image credit: Daniel Bader / Android Central)

What you need to know

A new report claims that Apple will release a redesigned MacBook Air with an M2 chip this year.
The report also claims Apple will upgrade the existing 13-inch MacBook Pro with the M2 chip.
It is even considering dropping the "Pro" name from the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

This week, Apple unveiled the M1 Ultra chip, its most powerful Apple silicon processor yet and, according to the company, the most powerful chip ever created for a personal computer.

Despite the announcement, it doesn't appear that Apple is letting off the gas. A new report from 9to5Mac claims that, despite contradicting rumors, Apple will release a redesigned MacBook Air with an unannounced M2 processor by the end of the year.

Codenamed J413, the next generation MacBook Air is expected to be released in a single version featuring M2. As detailed in our article about the new Mac mini, the M2 chip (internally known as "Staten") is based on the A15 chip. Although it has an eight-core CPU just like M1, M2 will bring a more powerful 10-core GPU.

In addition to a new MacBook Air, the company may also bring the M2 to the current 13-inch MacBook Pro. According to the report, Apple is even considering dropping the "Pro" from the 13-inch MacBook Pro and turning it into the new entry-level MacBook.

9to5Mac's sources confirm that the 13-inch MacBook Pro will also get a new model with the M2 chip. Under the codename J493, the machine is based on the current 13-inch MacBook Pro, which means that it should retain the current design rather than getting the new one from the high-end versions.Interestingly, Apple has been internally considering dropping the "Pro" name from this machine, which would become just "MacBook." That way, it would be rebranded as an entry-level MacBook, which would make sense since a report last year claimed that the redesigned MacBook Air will be "slightly more expensive."

Apple is also anticipated to announce a redesign to the Mac Pro along with another new chip, but it is currently unclear when those will be announced.

In the meantime, the company is releasing the new Mac Studio and Studio Display next week.

MacBook Air with M1

Apple's newest MacBook Air is silent but deadly, a potent combination of class design and a new, ultra-fast M1 SoC.

Joe Wituschek is a Contributor at iMore. With over ten years in the technology industry, one of them being at Apple, Joe now covers the company for the website. In addition to covering breaking news, Joe also writes editorials and reviews for a range of products. He fell in love with Apple products when he got an iPod nano for Christmas almost twenty years ago. Despite being considered a "heavy" user, he has always preferred the consumer-focused products like the MacBook Air, iPad mini, and iPhone 13 mini. He will fight to the death to keep a mini iPhone in the lineup. In his free time, Joe enjoys video games, movies, photography, running, and basically everything outdoors.