Apple is said to be working on three new MacBooks with company’s homegrown co-processors similar to the T2 chip seen in the iMac Pro and the T1 chip on the 2016 MacBook Pro, according to a new report from Bloomberg. The report further claims that Apple is expected to launch new iPad towards the end of this year.
However, the report doesn’t explicitly mention which line-up of MacBooks will see an upgrade as Bloomberg just says that Apple is working on ‘at least’ three new models with Apple-designed silicon, including two laptops and a new desktop. It looks like a desktop in talks could be the Mac Pro since T2 chipset already exists for a Mac Pro model. But is very much possible that it could be a complete refresh model as well.
Apple already mentioned that a new Mac Pro is in the development stage, but did not reveal if it would launch in 2018. Coming to Laptops, MacBook Pros are not due for a major update this year according to rumors, but the Retina model could see a refresh and likely to be one of the models. The T1 custom chip on the MacBook Pro models handle all the Touch Bar and Touch ID components, including the Secure Enclave.
While the T2 found in the iMac Pro handles core OS duties including the Secure Boot, acting as the disk controller for the SSDs, and is the image signal processor for the FaceTime camera, amongst other functions. With iPad not due anytime soon, it is likely that Apple decided to skip the A11 chip to directly settle for an ‘A12X’ equivalent. It would be strange if Apple goes with the A11 chipset for a tablet launching post the debut of the A12x chip on the 2018 iPhones.