The analyst believed there would be a brand new MacBook design arriving in the middle of 2021, although he didn’t say whether or not that would be the purported 12-inch ARM-based MacBook.

There’s no guarantee things will pan out as Kuo described, even if he’s completely accurate. The COVID-19 pandemic and development hitches could delay a release despite Apple’s best intentions. A debut with smaller iMacs and MacBook Pros wouldn’t be surprising, mind you. ARM tends to fare best in mobile devices and other low-power hardware, and there might not be as many expectations around legacy support as there will be for higher-end systems. This also gives Apple more time to refine its ARM technology for premium Macs and, if necessary, to tweak designs based on real-world feedback.