Apple’s chip release schedule is so borked. It should be High end Pro and Studio first and then iPad, Air, Mini and downgraded Pro. Why they release the iPad and Low End Pro is beyond me.
Everyone buying their high end gear is buying something waiting to be refreshed now.
Hasn't that been the case throughout the industry for the last two decades now? Back when Intel was still on TikTok, the low powered laptop chips were always first, then mainstream desktop, then workstation and server roughly a year delayed. Maybe mistaken, but seems to make sense, if you mainly offer monolithic chips, you'd want to start with a smaller Die size to better leverage the process.
AMD is somewhat of an exception/unique case though, having chipsets and monolithic depending on the use case and console/semicustom offerings, so that doesn't map fully.
Also, let's not forget in Apples case, that they actually go phone first, the Air+iPad, then Pro and finally Studio. Feel that the lower end devices should priority personally though, efficiency gains are more valuable in connected devices with limited space for batteries over my 16 incher with 100wh.
Course, would be nice if we just got the entire range updated at once, but I doubt even Apple could pull such a supply chain miracle off, even if they bought all of TSMC and the entire island to boot...
+1 on this... it also gives them more opportunity to work out any issues when piecing the larger chips together while catching any post-production issues on the simpler, lower end parts before they hit bigger customers.
Well here’s the thing, M5 is (probably) a big A19, M1 was a big A14, and so forth. The whole thing of apple silicon is that it’s large phone chips (optimized for performance per watt) rather than small workstation chips (performance at all costs)
It takes 3 months to manufacture a chip end to end. If you find a hardware bug once complete, you have to start over and you end up with a three month delay.
Looks like the Pro and Max will be on a three month delay.
If you find a hardware bug that late, you're not fixing it and you're looking for chicken bits to flip. It is /extremely/ expensive to validate changes and remake the masks.
Is this because they know some whales that want the +1 model are going to jump at the opportunity to buy whatever is on the market, and then buy again when higher-range models are released?
Apple knows their sales numbers, so I imagine is that they know the base model will sell the most quantity. Having it out now means more sales at the highest MSRP before talk of the next model release.
Buyers who walk into an Apple store for a base MacBook Pro will wait if they hear a new model is coming out. So if you have a buyer basing purchases on the generation number, it makes sense to launch that model as soon as possible.
Pro/Max buyers generally are checking into specs and getting what they need. Hence the M2 Ultra still being for sale, for some niches that have specific requirements.
Apple’s chip release schedule is so borked. It should be High end Pro and Studio first and then iPad, Air, Mini and downgraded Pro. Why they release the iPad and Low End Pro is beyond me.
People in the U.S. are starting to think about their Christmas shopping lists right about now.
Everyone buying their high end gear is buying something waiting to be refreshed now.