A 16in MacBook Pro with a 12-core chip could arrive as soon as March 2021, if an Apple leaker is to be believed.

LeaksApplePro has tweeted that a 12-core Mac will launch in March.

Next Mac March 12 cores

— LeaksApplePro🎄 (@LeaksApplePro)
December 31, 2020

This isn’t the first tweet about a 12-core Mac from LeaksApplePro. Back in November 2020 LeaksApplePro tweeted about this 12-core chip – referred to as the M1X – suggesting it could come to the 16in MacBook Pro and offer eight performance cores and four high efficiency cores.

Apple M1X:

-12 Cores.

– 8 performance cores.

– 4 high efficiency cores.

– Coming first on a MacBook Pro
16” unveiling as a press release.

– According to a source who used a prototype, “if you think M1 is fast, you haven’t seen M1X”.

-Name isn’t final though. pic.twitter.com/tpBhXpDCad

— LeaksApplePro🎄 (@LeaksApplePro)
November 22, 2020

This 12-core option would offer an improvement over the current 5nm 8-core M1 that appeared in the MacBook Air, 13in MacBook Pro and Mac mini in 2020.

While LeaksApplePro originally indicated that the 12-core chip is destined for the 16in MacBook Pro, it has been suggested that this 12-core solution could be destined for the rumoured 14in MacBook Pro said to be in Apple’s pipeline, while the 16in MacBook Pro could get a 16-core solution. The logic here is that the 16in MacBook Pro would have more space for a beefier cooling solution, suggests Wccftech.