13-Inch MacBook Pro Refresh Specifications Allegedly Leaked, Intel’s 10th Gen Ice Lake Processors Expected

Apple is rumoured to launch a refreshed MacBook Pro model in the first half of 2020, alongside a new iPhone and an upgraded iPad Pro. Now, a fresh leak has emerged claiming that Apple is working on a 13-inch MacBook Pro that will be powered by Intel’s 10th Gen Ice Lake processors. This would mark an interesting upgrade over the 8th Gen Coffee Lake processors packed inside the 2019 13-inch MacBook Pro. The leak suggests Apple is fitting a new generation processor inside the upcoming 13-inch MacBook Pro, but the CPU core count remains the same.

The leak comes courtesy of a tipster who goes by the name @_rogame on Twitter. The post also compares the 3DMark Time Spy benchmark score of Intel’s 8th Gen Core i5-8279U processor, powering the 13-inch MacBook Pro (2019), against the 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1068NG7 processor that will reportedly be fitted inside the 2020 MacBook Pro refresh. The benchmark performance comparison, if legit, shows a graphics performance boost of roughly 29 percent, while the processing output of the 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro goes up by 12 percent vis-à-vis its predecessor.

As for the processor itself, the 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1068NG7 falls under the Ice Lake line of chips. It has four cores and 8 threads, with a base clock speed of 2.3GHz and a boost frequency of 4.1GHz. The power uptake stands at 28W. If last year’s 10nm-based Intel Core i7-1065G7 is anything to go by, the 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1068NG7 inside the upcoming MacBook Pro will also rely on the Iris Plus graphics that offers a significant boost over Intel’s UHD series integrated GPUs.

It is interesting to note that Apple is prioritising graphics boost over net processing power by opting for the Ice Lake processor over the Comet Lake Line, which is said to bring bigger processing upgrade and lower graphics gains. In a subsequent tweet, the tipster mentions that the 2020 13-inch MacBook Pro will pair its 10th Gen Intel Core i7-1068NG7 processor with a juicy 32GB of RAM and a massive 2TB of SSD storage. As per TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple’s MacBook Pro (or MacBook Air) refresh will reportedly arrive in the first half of 2020.