A new round of rumours suggests that Apple’s expected MacBook Pros with M2 Pro and Max CPUs have been delayed again.

The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are “delayed yet more” (if you recall, these refreshes were originally expected to debut at the end of 2022). Laptops were rumoured to be released as soon as the first quarter of this year, but DigiTimes now says we won’t see them until early 2023.

We should be extremely sceptical before adopting anything at face value, though, as is always the case with the grapevine. Not mentioned is a specific arrival date for the MacBook Pros, but we may always consult a different resource.

The well-known leaker had earlier speculated that the updated MacBook Pros will be released in the first quarter of2023, but now Mark Gurman has claimed (in his newsletter) that the release date will be in the first half of 2023. That would indicate that the launch has been put back to the second quarter of 2023.

According to DigiTimes, this quarter will see a precipitous reduction in MacBook shipments, maybe as much as 40% to 50% less than the fourth quarter of 2022. While a decline from Q4 to Q1 is to be anticipated given the transition from a busy sales season to a quiet one, the extent to which this is the case is surprising.

Will it be introduced during WWDC?

Since WWDC 2023 is scheduled for June, if the new MacBook Pro models are (yet again) pushed out to Q2, a possible release date may be in June. While hardware announcements aren’t often part of WWDC, we did see the M2 MacBook Air debut there last year.

There have been other reports about the next MacBook Pros, again from Gurman, claiming the laptops would retain the look and functionality of the present iterations, with the only substantial increase being the CPU, with the M2 Pro and Max processors inside. The leaker previously said that we should only anticipate a “marginal” improvement in performance from these new laptops.

So, if there aren’t any major upgrades, the delay of the MacBook Pros begs the question, what could possibly be the holdup? We can only speculate that it has something to do with the recently released M2 SoCs with turbocharging capabilities or the declining shipping numbers.

Lower demand in the fourth quarter has led to a glut of MacBooks on the market, as reported by Tom’s Hardware. Maybe they’re trying to move their present stock and are waiting to announce the release of the new MacBook Pros until they’ve sold off their current supply.