Apple held its annual developers conference WWDC 2021 keynote on June 7. Most people were excited for the release of new MacBook Pro models, as rumoured by the leakster Jon Prosser. However, the company did not release any new hardware and focused completely on software at the developers conference.
Last year, at WWDC, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced that the Mac would transition from Intel to its own silicon over the course of two years. As part of the transition, the company has already updated the MacBook Air, 13” base MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and also released a new 24” iMac powered by M1 – its first chip for the Mac.
Previously this year, Apple also added the M1 chip to the iPad Pro. The Mac and the iPad have never been this closer. While the hardware of the iPad has improved drastically over the years, the software remains to be lacklustre. The iPad cannot run any “Pro” grade apps, as the ones found on the Mac, even though it uses the same M1 chip as of the Mac computers.
To push the envelope of Apple Silicon, the company is expected to release a beefier version of the M1 chip in the near future. Apple is expected to include a new M1X chip in the 16” MacBook Pro and in a new 14” MacBook Pro. The company could, however, offer different configurations based on the number of CPU cores and GPU cores. On the current generation M1 based computers, the company offers a 7-core GPU option and a 8-core GPU option.
The other interesting points to note about the upcoming MacBook Pro models, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, is that they will have various different ports unlike the current generation MacBooks. The rumoured new 14” MacBook Pro and updated 16” MacBook Pro will reportedly have an SD card reader, HDMI port, and MagSafe for charging; along with USB-C ports.