Apple completely stopped production of M2 chips for its MacBook models in January and February. The information comes from the Korean news site The Elec, which says some production has resumed in March, but it’s still half the capacity it was at the same time last year.
According to the Outsourcing Semiconductor Package Test industry, TSMC hasn’t sent a 5nm process M2 chip wafer to the manufacturer during the first two months of the year, most likely because Apple requested to halt the production due to MacBook demand decreased.
The M2 chip is currently available with the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Mac mini, and iPad Pro models. In the latest earning calls, the company highlights poor sales of these devices. Even Apple’s CEO Tim Cook said the “PC Market is facing a very challenging situation,” and the company would have “a very difficult [moment] in the short term.”
While the first generation of Apple silicon led to good sales, the new economic scenario and fewer upgrades with the second generation of processors haven’t helped users justify upgrading to a new machine again.
In addition, Apple took a bit more to release the new M2 Pro and M2 Max MacBook Pro models and the new M2 and M2 Pro Mac mini. They were expected to be unveiled in November last year, but they were only released in January 2023.
That said, Apple might have started shifting its production to at least the entry-level M3 processors. Rumors so far believe the company already has two new MacBook Air versions and an entry-level MacBook Pro to announce in the coming months.
While they were expected to be unveiled in April, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman now believes Apple is readying these three Macs and the long-rumored Apple silicon Mac Pro to the middle of the year, most likely around the WWDC 2023 keynote.
BGR will let you know once we hear more about these upcoming Macs.
