M3 MacBook coming in 2024, predicts supply chain monitor

For a year, it has been speculated that Apple would launch the M3 chip. Other than a spurious rumor claiming April, most of the discussion has been centered on a fall launch of the processor.

Lately, however, that timetable has been shifting. And now, a week after Digitimes said that they were expecting new MacBook models before the end of 2023, they appear to already be walking that back.

In a report detailing a five-year global shipment of notebook-form computers, the publication says that ARM-based laptop shipments have been in decline for the last year, but will see an upswing, because of 3nm M3 chips expected in new MacBook models.

"Apple, which adopts in-house designed Arm-based CPUs for most of its notebook lineups, is expected to experience a significant decline in shipments in 2023 as the US brand vendor plans to transit to CPUs built by a 3nm node at TSMC for performance upgrading in 2024," The publication writes."

As we said a week ago, launching a new MacBook Pro update in the remaining months of 2023 doesn't tally with any other recent source. There were repeated rumors of a fall 2023 refresh initially, but both older reports and more recent ones say that there won't be a MacBook Pro update until 2024.

Furthermore, Apple appears to have purchased all of TSMC's 3nm chip capacity through the end of the year. It is expected that the foundry is focusing on iPhone chips, rather than M-series processors, even though they share the same fundamental architecture.

The publication goes on to say that Apple and Dell will see a "more noticeable recovery" in the high-end and commercial market.

Digitimes has a strong track record for its supply chain sources, but a significantly poorer one for the conclusions it draws about Apple's plans and timetables from those suppliers.