In recent months there has been a lot of attention paid to Apple's latest range of Macs with M3 processors. MacBook Pro models with the M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max appeared in fall 2023 alongside an iMac M3, while the MacBook Air got access to the new chips earlier this month.
But Cupertino engineers are already thinking about the next generation of Apple silicon and have reportedly begun formal development of the first M4 devices. Let's see them!
The news was dropped in a "not a big deal" comment at the end of a question-and-answer session led by Bloomberg analyst Mark Gurman. Most of the interview focused on the recently abandoned Apple Car project and the company's future plans for the car space. automobile software, which we talked about a few days ago in this article.
A new M4 processor is underway
According to Mark Gurman, Apple has "just begun formal development" of a new MacBook Pro powered by the M4 chip, which has yet to see the light of day. Details are pretty vague at the moment, as it should be a while before we see a new MacBook Pro.
The M4 is rumored to be based on the A18, Apple's next chip for this year's iPhones. Both are expected to have more Neural Engine cores to handle AI-related tasks, which should be across iOS 18 and macOS 15. For comparison, the A17 Pro chip's Neural Engine is capable of processing up to 35 trillion operations per second.
We've also heard that the M4 could use TSMC's 2nm process, an improvement on the 3nm process used in current chips... although this is more likely to be implemented in a later generation from 2026.
Apple's usual cadence for chip generation releases is, as MacRumors notes, one generation every year and a half. The M1 was announced in fall 2020, the M2 in summer 2022, and the M3 in fall 2023. If that trend continues and there's a theory that claims we'll get something later this year, we shouldn't expect any news from M4 until spring/summer 2025, leaving plenty of time to get more out of M3 Macs.
Mac computers with M3 versus future M4s
This might disappoint some users who like a frenetic pace of improvement, but a slower mode has some big advantages. On the one hand, it means that you don't really have to worry about when Apple will release the future M4 chip, because if you have or are going to buy any device with an M3 processor, you can be completely sure that the device will remain at the forefront for several years. .
Plus, when the M4 processor finally arrives, you can expect to see some price cuts on M3 laptops, as has happened with the M2 versions now that the M3 chip is here, and that also leads to some great potential deals.
So, it's basically business as usual at Apple. Apple will be testing and announcing the M4 processor for some time before finally bringing it to market, and long before that, you'll still have plenty of great Apple laptops to choose from.
Other information about Apple processors
A report last month in Taiwan's Economic Daily claimed that Apple's M4 chips would feature "significantly" more cores as part of an updated neural engine with a focus on, you guessed it, AI and machine learning tasks.
This also follows plans to increase the amount of generative AI used in iOS 18 for the iPhone 16. Most MacBook models come with a 16-core Neural Engine (both the Mac Studio and Mac Pro feature a 32-core neuronal cell).
Since this is practically the first time we've heard anything about the M4 chip, there is very little information at the moment about this processor.
But things will almost certainly start leaking at the WWDC 2024 event in June, so we'll be sure to bring you all the latest tidbits as they arrive.
With iOS 18 and macOS 15 that are expected to bring the first big push for Apple's AI features, the next generation of hardware will see the biggest benefits, including this M4 MacBook Pro and future iPhone 16 models.
That said, while the iPhone 16 is expected to launch in September, the new M4 MacBook Pro could be available later this year or early 2025 at the latest. Still, despite the new chip, we expect Apple to change the MacBook design in 2026 or 2027 when it moves from a miniLED display to OLED.
