Don’t buy a MacBook right now — M3 Macs are just around the corner (report)

Even though we’ve just seen the last of the M2 chips, M3 is coming sooner than you think. In fact, you may want to hold off on buying a MacBook because of it.

According to a recent report, Apple may be launching the M3 MacBook Air, a new 13-inch MacBook Pro, and even an upgraded iMac with this new M3 chip.

(M)3 is a magic number

In his latest newsletter for Bloomberg, Gurman reports that Apple is set to launch the first wave of M3 Apple Silicon Macs this October. This would follow the inevitable September iPhone 15 event, plus the launch of the Apple Watch Series 9, and the new Apple Watch Ultra.

Much like the A17 Bionic you’ll see in the iPhone 15 Pro, the M3 is manufactured on a 3nm process. But while the core count will reportedly stay similar to what, the manufacturer TSMC’s enhanced process means we can expect to see impressive upgrades in performance and power efficiency — more than what we saw between M1 and M2.

Now, there is one big question. Why is M3 coming so soon after the M2 lineup has seemingly wrapped up with the most recent Mac Studio and Mac Pro models at WWDC? It all seems awfully fast. 

Well, as we’ve seen, supply chain issues have held back the likes of the M2 Ultra, which doesn’t seem to have affected the M3, given Apple bought up 100% of TSMC’s stock of 3nm chips. So the crossover between these two generations has been a lot more apparent this time around than usual.

Outlook

The likes of the new 15-inch MacBook Air sounds great on paper, but with M3 laptops coming in just three months time, I’d probably hold off on that purchase. Not just to see what the performance gains would look like, but for the discounts that come for older models.

Gurman does not specifically confirm that an October keynote will happen. There is a chance these new models are announced via press release (just like the M2 Pro/M2 Max MacBook Pros). But for something as significant as a brand new generation of Apple silicon, I’d put money on seeing a full announcement event.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to setup a prayer circle for a 13-inch MacBook Pro redesign that finally ditches the touchbar.