Apple debuted its M1 chip with the Mac mini, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air. The M1 chip packs an 8-core CPU which while powerful still falls short of beating high-end Intel CPUs with 10-28-cores in multi-threaded scenarios. A new leak from a tipster on Weibo claims that Apple will be launching its M2 chip exclusively for the Mac Pro and iMac.

The ‘M2’ moniker is not yet finalized for the chip though, with Apple internally referring to it as “Jade.” It will be based on the same 5nm process node from TSMC as the M1 and meant for the Mac Pro and iMac. The chip should launch in the second half of 2021 and will not make its way inside MacBooks.

There are no other details about this ‘M2’ chip as of now, though it will likely come with more high-powered cores and other improvements to deliver better performance in multi-threaded scenarios. The chip should also feature more I/O bandwidth to support more Thunderbolt accessories and ports.

A Bloomberg report from earlier this year had revealed that Apple is working on a 12-core configuration of Apple Silicon as well. It is unclear if Apple will offer the “Jade” M2 chip with different core configurations as it did with Intel CPUs inside Macs. Nonetheless, it should offer enough grunt to allow Apple to replace its Intel-based Mac Pro and iMac with its own chip, all the while consuming less power. As per Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, a redesigned 24-inch iMac with Apple Silicon should launch in the first half of 2021.

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