Apple event: 2021 MacBook Pro rumours reveal new M1 Pro, M1 Max chip

Apple event titled Unleashed kicks off at 10.30 pm IST on October 18.

Apple event kicks off on October 18 at 10.30 pm IST and the iPhone 13 maker is expected to announce an all-new MacBook Pro with an improved version of the M1 chip. The rumour mill claimed that Apple would call this chip the M1X, however, it seems the new chips will “Pro” and “Max” as suffixes.

Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, citing an anonymous developer, claims that the new chips to be announced at the Apple MacBook event will be called M1 Pro and M1 Max. The two monikers have appeared in some of the app logs, alongside the same screen resolutions for the upcoming MacBook Pro models. While they were spotted in the app logs, Gurman said Apple might not opt for confused naming.

“The aforementioned developer tells me that new MacBook Pro chips have appeared in logs under the names "M1 Pro" and "M1 Max." I'm not saying Apple will take that direction with its actual marketing names, but that's another—albeit more confusing—possibility,” Gurman said in his Power On newsletter.

The new M1 successor chip is said to feature a 10-core CPU weight eight high-performance and two energy-efficient cores. Apple is expected to launch the chip in two variants, one of which will have a 16-core GPU. This particular chip could be called the M1 Pro. The other Apple M1 silicon, which is rumoured to feature a 32-core GPU, is likely to be called the M1 Max.

Also read: iPhone 13 review

The new M1X/ M1 Pro/ M1 Max chips are said to support up to 64GB of RAM. Apple could also announce the 2021 MacBook Pro with a 14-inch and a 16-inch display. Both models are said to support a high refresh rate display and come with 2K resolution as well.

In addition, both variants are said to feature a mini-LED display, which was first unveiled on the iPad Pro 12.9-inch model. Apple is also rumoured to narrow down the bezels—some further claiming that it would launch the MacBook Pros with a notch at the top of the display. The webcam on these Pro machines is said to sport a 1080p resolution. 

The new MacBooks may also come with a new charger. Apple could bring the same charger with an ethernet port that is sold with the iMac M1.

The base models of both M1X MacBook Pro are said to come with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD. Apple could launch the 16” model with an upgrade option to 32GB/ 64GB RAM and up to 2TB storage.