Apple is currently working on the next generation of its in-house developed chip, the M4, which is expected to come in three main varieties. M4 chips will power upcoming Macs – in fact, Apple hopes to reinvent the entire Mac lineup with the M4 series of chips.
The M4’s design will “prominently feature artificial intelligence,” according to a new report published today by Bloomberg, written by Mark Gurman, who’s usually very reliable about Apple.
After peaking all the way in 2022, Mac sales fell 27% in the last fiscal year ended last September. Even last year’s holiday season didn’t help, with sales flat. The launch of the M3 Mac last October was supposed to help drive sales, but it didn’t, as the M3 didn’t offer any huge performance improvements compared to the M2.
The M4 chip will be part of a broader push to “embed artificial intelligence capabilities into all of Apple’s products,” the report said. The first new Mac computer equipped with M4 will be available at the end of this year, and other computers will be available early next year.
Before the end of the year, we should obviously expect new iMacs, low-end 14-inch MacBook Pros, high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and a Mac mini. That means the iMac and MacBook Pro lines will be updated about a year after previous iterations, putting them in line with smartphone refresh cycles due to Apple sales-related issues.
In 2025, Apple should also release M4-powered 13- and 15-inch MacBook Airs (spring), Mac Studio (around mid-year), and Mac Pro (“late 2025”).
Apple plans to highlight the M4’s artificial intelligence processing capabilities at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June, where it will also showcase the next version of macOS. The lowest-tier M4 will power the entry-level MacBook Pro, new MacBook Air devices and low-end versions of the Mac mini. The mid-range chips will be used in the high-end MacBook Pro and high-end Mac mini, while the top-end chips will be created for the Mac Pro.
As part of the upgrade, Apple is reportedly “considering” allowing people to equip its highest-end Mac desktops with up to 512GB of RAM (up from the current 192GB limit).