Months after the major hardware upgrade of MacBook Pro, there are now reports that Apple has been working on the 2018 version of the premium laptop. In fact, the new powerful Intel processor to be included in the next Mac Pro machine was recently spotted online. 

It is speculated that the MacBook Pro 2018 will be powered by the next-generation Intel Core i9 chips. The first scoop came from FossBytes, which spotted the early test versions of the Core i9 processors in Aida64 benchmarking tool. As it appears that the next-gen Core i9 processors are still under development, the current benchmark results could still be far from the actual performance of the workstation chips once they become available next year. Nevertheless, the rumored chipset for the new Mac Pro already looks promising.

According to BGR, the Intel Core i9 processor has the capacity to run 6-core/12-thread configurations, 45W TDP, and 12 MB of L3 cache, giving it an edge over the Core i3, i5, and i7 Intel chips. It is expected that the new generation of Core i9 chipset will offer improved performance and faster processing speeds, although the chip will not consume much power in spite of its extended capacity.

The next-gen Intel Core i9 chip spotted online is known as Core i9-8950HK, although there are other new versions of the Core i3, i5, and i7 chips that were leaked in the latest benchmarking results. These Intel Core processors are said to be based on the Coffee Lake-H and Coffee Lake-S architectures. For now, it is expected that the 8th-generation Intel silicon-based chipsets will be unveiled in the first half, while the information remains limited regarding the release of the 9th-generation Core chips, AnandTech reported.

Aside from the MacBook Pro 2018, it is rumored that the next-gen Intel Core i9 chips will power other premium workstation laptops early next year. It is also expected that the Windows laptops will get the Intel Core upgrade in the first half of 2018, although that remains to be seen as the shipment schedule of the new Core i9 chips next year is not yet confirmed.

Apple followers are hoping that the 2018 MacBook Pro will address the shortcomings of the previous laptop versions. While the 2017 Mac Pros did upgrade the processor to faster Kaby Lake chipsets, the laptop has yet to prove itself to match the power of other workstations. With the expected arrival of next-gen Intel Core i9 chips in the laptop, the new MacBook Pro can now deliver top-notch performance even in low-power condition.