We're about to see what the Mac can do when it's finally set free

Apple is about to unleash the full power of the Mac.

- JASON SNELL

The release of the M1 (fave.co/ 3ywYjll) processor was a milestone. Apple finally migrated the Mac to its fast, low-power mobile processors, and the results were incredible. They were a hard act to follow-and after about a year and a half, the M2 processor arrived with a (not unexpected) set of incremental gains.

You can't reinvent the wheel every time out, and clearly the M2 was a careful follow-on to the M1, designed to keep the ball rolling. But now reports abound that the M3 is on the way-not at the end of the year or in early 2024, as you might expect from the 18-month gap between the M1 and the M2, but very soon, perhaps as soon as late spring or early summer.

Surprise! It turns out that Apple may be more aggressive with its Mac processing master plan than we might've guessed from the first couple of years of Apple silicon.

BACK ON THE CHIP CYCLE

The first two generations of Apple silicon Mac chips have been follow-ons from iPhone chips of a previous generation. The M1 was based on the A14, and the M2 was based on the A15. Apple releases a new iPhone chip every year but hasn't done so with the M series...so far.

However, there's evidence to suggest Apple didn't actually want it this way. The M2 made its debut with the MacBook Air (fave.co/3zbn711) and 13-inch MacBook Pro (