Apple aiming to release first M4-powered Macs this year with a focus on AI

Apple is planning a major overhaul to its Mac lineup with the advent of the M4 family of chips. According to a new report from Bloomberg, Apple is planning a “new family of in-house processors designed to highlight artificial intelligence.”

First M4 Macs coming this year

The report says that Apple is “nearing production” of the first M4 chips. “The new chip will come in at least three main varieties, and Apple is looking to update every Mac model with it,” Mark Gurman writes.

The transition to the M4 will start later this year and include a new iMac, a lower-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, and a refreshed Mac mini.

Apple is aiming to release the updated computers beginning late this year and extending into early next year. There will be new iMacs, a low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and Mac minis — all with M4 chips. But the company’s plans could change.

Apple is then planning to follow up with more M4 Macs throughout 2025. That includes updates to the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air by the spring, the Mac Studio around the middle of the year, and the Mac Pro later in 2025.

The M4 family will include an entry-level variant as well as at least two higher-performance versions. With the M4 chips, Apple reportedly plans to “highlight the AI processing capabilities of the components and how they’ll integrate with the next version of macOS.”

The entry-level M4 chip, code-named Donan, will power the entry-level MacBook Pro as well as the MacBook Air and entry-level Mac mini. The first higher-end chip, code-named Brava, will appear in the Mac Studio, higher-spec MacBook Pro models, and a higher-end Mac mini.

The report also includes some good news for Mac Pro fans:

The highest-end Apple desktop, the Mac Pro, is set to get the new Hidra chip. The Mac Pro remains the lower-selling model in the company’s computer lineup, but it has a vocal fan base. After some customers complained about the specifications of Apple’s in-house chips, the company is looking to beef up that machine next year.

For the highest-end desktop Mac configurations, Apple is considering support for up to half a terabyte of RAM. That’s up from the current max of 192GB.

M3 Mac Studio?

As it stands right now, Apple still hasn’t released an M3-powered version of the Mac Studio or the Mac Pro. Gurman’s report today at least leaves the door open for the possibility of an M3 Mac Studio with a “still-unreleased M3-era chip.”

As a refresher, the Mac Studio is available with the M2 Max and M2 Ultra configurations. While the M3 Max is currently available in the MacBook Pro, Apple hasn’t yet unveiled the M3 equivalent of the M2 Ultra.