The MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with Apple Silicon are reportedly going on sale this year

The MacBook Pro and MacBook Air with Apple Silicon are reportedly going on sale this year

The first Macs to feature Apple Silicon will be the 13-inch MacBook Pro and the new MacBook Air, coming this year.

This is according to Apple analyst and oracle Ming Chi Kuo, who was seen by MacRumors in a recent research note from TF International Securities. Kuo also predicts that ARM-based Apple chips will be available in the 16-inch MacBook Pro and the new 14.1-inch MacBook Pro in 2021.

Apple unveiled Apple Silicon at WWDC 2020, revealing its vision of no Intel processors in Mac machines and instead using its own custom chips based on the ARM architecture, but which Macs will have the new chips first. The company did not reveal which Macs will be the first to feature the new chip. The company said only that the first machines will be available this year.

Kuo had previously predicted that the refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro would be one of the first machines to feature Apple's new chips. And while rumors have indicated that the upcoming iMac 2020 will be the first machine to feature the Apple Silicon, Kuo believes this will not happen until 2021. Apple plans to unveil a new iMac this year, but for now it is likely to stick with Intel CPUs.

However, in this new research note, it appears that the refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro and MacBook Air could be the first laptops to feature Apple's custom ARM-based chips. Kuo said that production of these Mac machines will take place this year, and it is very likely that Apple will release the laptops at the end of this year or early 2021. [New MacBook models, including the new 13.3-inch MacBook Pro with Apple Silicon, will be available in 4Q20, the new MacBook Air with Apple Silicon in 4Q20 or 1Q21, and the new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with Apple Silicon in late 2Q21 or 3Q21.

Kuo's predictions have been right on target many times, so there is a good chance that this prediction will come to fruition. According to Apple, the move to in-house chips should provide better efficiency and more balanced and powerful performance, which should result in better battery life. It may also lower the cost of manufacturing Apple's MacBooks, but that does not necessarily mean they will be less expensive.

Categories