New Mac Laptops Make Headway As Apple Grapples With Slump

It is expected that Apple Inc. will bring to market fresh Macs equipped with processors comparable to the current M2 chips within the next few months, making headway on key new machines that could assist the firm in turning around its declining sales. 

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A developer log shared with Trade Algo shows that Apple has begun testing its new Mac computers using third-party apps from the App Store as the company strives to ensure that they will work with the new devices. That is an important step prior to the launch of a new device.

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Following the worst Mac slump since 2000 and the dot-com bust, Apple is counting on the new machines to get shoppers interested again. A report by IDC indicates that Mac shipments dropped by more than 40% in the first quarter, making the company a laggard in a sector that suffered a sharp decline across the board. Though Apple telegraphed the weakness of the quarter, the company will not release its actual results until May 4 as it has not yet provided them.

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As such, Apple has been preparing laptops that have processor specifications similar to that of existing models, along with larger, higher-resolution displays. The test logs suggest that Apple is developing a laptop that will be a welcome arrival against that backdrop. In Apple's plans for this year, this model is likely to be the 15-inch MacBook Air.

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Apple spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter, as she was unable to speak for the company. 

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There are eight processor cores on the new MacBook Air, just as there are in the existing MacBook Air, and ten graphics cores. In addition, there are 8 gigabytes of memory built into the new laptop, like the current MacBook Air. 

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There are still four high-performance cores of the CPU and four efficiency cores in the CPU, or main computing processor. On June 5 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple is expected to announce macOS 14, the next version of the Mac operating system that will be available in the field on the Mac. 

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In the lab, the laptop codenamed “Mac 15,3” — which is equivalent to the 14-inch high-end MacBook Pro — has a screen resolution that is comparable. Apple's strategy of dividing up its consumer and professional laptops based on their resolutions is in line with what it has done in the past. So the larger Air would run the same resolution as the MacBook Pro, but with a slightly lower sharpness.

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It is expected that the Mac is going to undergo bigger changes later in the future with the release of the M3 chip, which will represent a major change from the current 5-nanometer manufacturing standard to a 3-nanometer manufacturing process. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. has developed a new chip technology that provides improved performance and efficiency. Apple is planning to use a similar chip technology in this year’s iPhones.

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There will also be an update to the 13-inch Air model, the 24-inch iMac, and the 13-inch MacBook Pro as well as the larger MacBook Air model, and the company is also working on the larger MacBook Air. It is also being worked on a Mac Pro using Apple Silicon chips. However, it has been delayed and specifications have changed over the course of time.

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There are several improvements planned for the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pros as well as a higher-end version of Apple's M3 chip that will be introduced in the first half of 2024.

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The company's latest developer logs have previously revealed accurate details regarding M2 Macs and Apple's first high-end M1 chips, as well as details regarding the testing of the new Mac Pros.