M3 MacBooks seem unlikely, but Apple’s M2 iPad Air and mini 7 may arrive later this month

MacBook fans looking for an M3 Apple Silicon upgrade might be out of luck for the remainder of 2023, but iPad stans could have plenty to cheer for – and soon! 

Apple’s plans for the remainder of the year may have just been revealed thanks to a fresh tip out of China – from a well known tipster with a knack for delivering accurate information in advance. Let’s get the bad news out of the way first.

Wake M3 up when 2023 ends

Regardless of how plentiful the rumors have been, it looks like Apple’s first MacBooks to feature the M3 chip won’t be arriving in 2023.

According to a notebook shipments forecast made by DigiTimes, the share of notebooks built using Arm-based processors (like Apple Silicon) will likely decline throughout the rest of 2023 as Apple holds off on its performance upgrades until 2024.

The announcement of Apple’s M3 chip and its inclusion in future MacBooks has been an on-again-off-again affair throughout the year – with analysts and experts flip-flopping on the issue so hard you’d assume Mark Gurman and Ming-Chi Kuo were challenging one another for Olympic gold at Floor Gymnastics.

However, this recent report would seem pretty final and, unless Apple intend to deliver us a Christmas miracle, I’d say we all need to turn our attention to 2024 when it comes to a major MacBook refresh.

Still slated for release

According to a recent leak on Chinese microblogging site Weibo by reputable tipster Setsuna Digital, by the end of October we’re likely to see Apple finally unveil its iPad mini 7.

Reportedly outfitted with an A16 Bionic chipset, the iPad mini 7 was widely expected to appear during Apple’s recent Wonderlust showcase. However, with Apple’s event coming and going without a hint of the small-scale slate escaping a Cupertino cakehole, many were left ‘Wonderlusting’ if the tiny tablet was in trouble – much like the Apple’s last-minute canning of the 14-inch iPad.

Thankfully, that doesn’t appear to be the case this time. In fact, not only is it reportedly on its way, but it will also improve on one of the key complaints about its predecessor – its dreaded jelly scrolling.

In the post, Setsuna Digital reveals that the iPad mini 7 has “changed the screen assembly direction, and the jelly screen phenomenon has been improved; the front camera seems to have been upgraded, but the details are not clear.”

Also mentioned is the iPad 11 and M2-equipped iPad Air 6. Both of which are listed as uncertain possibilities to arrive alongside the iPad mini 7 – and there’s even mention of a first-gen Apple Pencil refresh featuring USB-C making an appearance too.

Outlook

The twists, the turns, the drama! But enough about Gurman and Kuo’s acrobatics. If this leak turns out to be true, it rounds off a rather successful year for Apple that has seen a slew of new devices make it to market, most of which not nearly as disastrous as the iPhone 15 is turning out to be.

As a fan of the iPad myself, I hope we can welcome these new additions to the Apple ecosystem with open arms – though don’t hate me if I have to rip them away from you again on Monday morning when the narrative changes all over again.