Apple said to be finalising new Mac desktops based on M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips

Bloomberg editor Mark Gurman has shared new detail about forthcoming Macs ahead of next week's WWDC 2023 conference. According to the analyst, Apple has more up its sleeve than the long-awaited MacBook Air 15, which is expected to arrive with the same 8-core GPU and 10-core GPU versions of the Apple M2 that are already available in the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13. For reference, Apple only offers the iPad Pro 11 and iPad Pro 12.9 with the 10-core GPU version of the Apple M2.

Reportedly, Apple has developed Mac 14,13 and Mac 14,14, which it bases on M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips, respectively. Gurman speculates that Mac 14,13 and Mac 14,14 may relate to a second-generation Mac Studio, which he originally thought Apple had cancelled in favour of a new Mac Pro. Subsequently, the analyst claimed that two Mac Studio models were back on track, with the first Apple silicon-based Mac Pro codenamed Mac 14,8 instead.

Gurman adds that Mac 14,13 will be available with the same M2 Max SoC that is configurable in current MacBook Pro 14 and MacBook Pro 16 machines. However, the Bloomberg edition states that the Mac 14,13 has the 30-core GPU version of the M2 Max and up to 96 GB of unified memory, a combination that Apple currently does not sell. For now, Apple restricts 96 GB of unified memory to the 38-core GPU version of the M2 Max. If the current Mac Studio is anything to go by, then Apple will offer 30-core and 38-core GPU versions of the M2 Max and not just one variant.

Regardless, the M2 Ultra is said to feature 24 CPU cores consisting of 16 performance and 8 efficiency cores. Additionally, Gurman reports that the M2 Ultra will ship with 60-core and 76-core GPU variants, although it remains to be seen whether GPU performance will scale linearly from the M2 Max. Moreover, Apple is testing M2 Ultra configurations with 64 GB, 128 GB and 192 GB of unified memory. While Gurman implies that Mac 14,13 and Mac 14,14 are being tested 'ahead of' WWDC, the analyst caveats that Apple is only 'nearing the release' of new desktops. Hence, there is no guarantee that Apple will also unveil new versions of the Mac Studio on June 5 during its WWDC 2023 keynote.

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