Apple's Rumored 13-Inch M2 MacBook Pro May Look Awfully Familiar

Even though Apple hasn't confirmed anything about it yet, the company is widely expected to host a spring reveal event next month. The current thinking is that Apple will use this event to announce a new iPhone SE and iPad Air, but there have also been whispers of new MacBook reveals too. In short, it's sounding like this reveal event could wind up being a rather packed one for Apple.

With the potential for MacBook Pros sporting new M2 CPUs to be revealed at this show, there's good reason for the MacBook faithful to be excited. However, we're learning today that Apple's refreshed 13-inch MacBook Pro may not be all that different from its predecessor in terms of design. If, then, you were hoping for a new 13-inch MacBook touting an exciting new design, you might want to temper your expectations for now, because according to a new report, that isn't what we'll be getting.

This report comes from the folks over at MacRumors, which spoke to a "previously reliable source with close links to Apple's supply chain." That source drops something of a whopper by saying that Apple's new 13-inch MacBook Pro won't have a markedly different design than the 13-inch MacBook Pro we're going to have. In fact, the new MacBook Pro will likely have the same design as the last one.

That, importantly, means that the new 13-inch MacBook Pro will retain the controversial Touch Bar, and that the M2 CPU running the show will be the main selling point for the new laptop. In fact, assuming Apple makes zero changes to the MacBook's design as this report suggests, then the M2 chip will be the only major selling point of the 13-inch MacBook Pro.

MacRumors' report also says that the new 13-inch MacBook won't have a notched, ProMotion display either, despite some expectations that it will. When the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models were refreshed last year, they both came with ProMotion displays sporting the iPhone's distinctive notch for the front-facing camera housing, but it seems Apple isn't ready to outfit the 13-inch MacBook Pro with such a display just yet.

ProMotion, for the uninitiated, is the name Apple uses for its 120Hz variable refresh rate displays. We first saw ProMotion debut on the iPad Pro, but these days, it's also on newer iPhones and the aforementioned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros. Variable refresh rate is a handy technology that not only makes things like scrolling feel smoother, but can also save on battery life by reducing the display's refresh rate when it's showing static images.

While you would think that Apple would want to outfit all of its devices with ProMotion displays eventually, it seems that isn't the cards yet for the 13-inch MacBook Pro. Today's rumors are certainly surprising, but MacRumors clearly has a lot of confidence in its source. We'll know the truth soon enough, as Apple's spring reveal event is expected to happen sometime in March.