Apple (AAPL) on Monday debuted its latest in-house chip to power its upcoming Macs: the M2.
Revealed during the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) at its Cupertino, California, headquarters, the M2 will debut in the new $1,199 MacBook Air and $1,299 MacBook Pro, offering improved performance and battery life over its predecessor, the M1.
Apple says the M2's CPU provides 8% more performance and 1.9x more performance than the current 10-core chip at the same power level. The M2 also offers up to 90% of a 12-core PC chip while consuming a quarter of the power.
The M2's GPU, meanwhile, has 2.3 times the performance of the leading chip at the same power level and can reach peak performance while using one-third the power of competing chips. Essentially, the chip is meant to provide plenty of power without killing your laptop's battery.
M2 comes to the MacBook Air
The first Mac to get the M2 will be Apple's newly redesigned MacBook Air. Taking up 20% less volume than the prior generation Air, the new Air is under half an inch thick and weighs a stunning 2.7 pounds. That's a lightweight laptop.
Apple has also expanded the Air's screen, by pushing it farther to the edge of the panel, increasing it to 13.6 inches. Apple has similarly changed the screen's technology, giving it a Liquid Retina Display for improved brightness. There is, however, a cut out at the top of the screen for the Air's webcam, which could be a turn-off to some users.
The webcam, for its part, sports a 1080p resolution and twice the low-light performance of the prior generation MacBook Air, meaning you'll look far better during Zoom meetings. That's good and bad, because while you'll be clearer, your boss will also be able to see when you're not paying attention now.
Fans of Apple's old MagSafe adapter should also be happy to learn the company has reintroduced the charger option. MagSafe allows your charging cable to quickly detach from your laptop if you accidentally pull on it. This way your laptop doesn't go flying across the room if you stand up to grab a drink.
Thankfully, the Air keeps its 2 USB C Thunderbolt ports and a headphone jack. Charging gets a big upgrade with the Air, with Apple saying the laptop now supports fast charging. Using a 67 watt charger, which you'll likely have to purchase separately, Apple says you'll be able to charge the Air to 50% in 30 minutes.
As far as performance, Apple says video editing performance is 40% faster than the prior Air. The new M2-powered 13-inch MacBook Pro, meanwhile, gets 40% better performance than the M1 Pro and three times faster performance than Intel-powered Pros while running image processing programs.
Apple first debuted its line of in-house laptop and desktop chips in November 2020 and has since introduced enhanced versions of the processors including the M1 Pro, M1 Max, and M1 Ultra. The company's Mac line of products has since seen an uptick in sales. In fiscal 2018 and 2019, Macs brought in $25.1 billion and $25.7 billion in revenue, respectively.
That jumped to $28.6 billion in 2020 and then $35.2 billion in 2021. That lines up with the massive increase in consumers and businesses purchasing laptops and desktops throughout the pandemic. Since then, PC sales have begun to cool, with IDC reporting that global shipments were down some 5.1% in Q1 2022. Apple, however, saw its shipments increase some 4.3% during the quarter.
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