Since Apple first announced its transition to Apple silicon in 2020, the company has released three stellar computing chips to power its Mac lineup. Apple’s iPads have also benefited from the M1 and M2 series, and M3 is expected to arrive on tablets with the new M3 iPad Pro in May.
Apple has not yet “completed” the transition to M3. The M2 Mac mini and M2 Mac Studio both remain, as does the M2 Ultra Mac Pro. However, it’s possible that Apple may not pivot its entire lineup to M3, choosing to skip some upgrades as it has done in previous years.
The biggest reason for believing that might be the case is the recent news that Apple plans to release a new M4 chip as early as this year. So what can we expect from a new M4 chip? And what do previous releases tell us about this prospective fourth generation of Apple silicon?
Apple silicon: the current picture
Here’s a current rundown of all the Macs Apple offers, and their respective chips:
- M3 MacBook Air 13/15-inch
- M3, M3 Pro, M3 Max MacBook Pro 14/16-inch
- M3 iMac
- M2, M2 Pro Mac mini
- M2 Max, M2 Ultra Mac Studio
- M2 Ultra Mac Pro
Naturally, Apple’s M3-based Macs are younger and fresher, while the M2 desktops are a little further into their respective lifespans. Recently, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed that Apple is planning to move its Mac chips to “an annual refresh cycle,” just like its best iPhones. Gurman says 2024 will herald the start of that “if all goes to plan,” and that Apple is planning to release its first M4 Macs before the end of the year. Here’s a quick refresher on the story of Apple silicon so far.
Apple M4 chip: Rumors
So what are the current rumors surrounding M4?
M4 chip release date:
According to Gurman, Apple is nearing production of its M4 chips and is planning to release them at the end of 2024. A report in March claimed that Apple’s M4 MacBook Pro has just started formal development. Gurman’s timeline, issued in April, suggests the first products to launch are targeted for “around the end of 2024.” That would certainly preclude a launch at WWDC 2024, or even anything prior to the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro in September. Apple could host a Mac event in either October or November of 2024 to unveil the new M4 chip and prospective new Macs (which we’ll come to). The alternative is that Apple could unveil M4 and accompanying Macs via press release, rather than an event.
M4 chip specs, AI, and performance
Rumors about the specific cores and performance of M4 are scarce. As mentioned earlier, Apple pivoted the M3 lineup to the 3nm process, a new manufacturing technology that makes the chips denser, packing more power into the same space. Apple’s next major 2nm chip upgrade isn’t expected until 2025, however in the meantime, Apple should adopt TSMC's new 3NE process for slight improvements to power, performance, and density in the manufacturing process.
In February, EDN reported that Apple was planning to “significantly increase the number of built-in AI computing cores” in the M4 and A18 processors coming up later this year. More specifically, it reported that Apple will also “significantly increase the number and performance of the new generation M4 and A18 processors.” That seems to indicate the new M4 chip could come with more base cores than previous lineups. M3 offers an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU as standard, an increase of 10 and 12 cores respectively could make for a heftier starting point for the new lineup.
Recent insight into Apple’s M3 Pro and Max chips has revealed that Apple ditched the UltraFusion architecture of the M1 and M2 Ultra chips. Vadim Yuryev of YouTube channel Max Tech noted “Apple's in the process of restructuring their Apple silicon lineup. M3 Max no longer comes with the UltraFusion interconnect… This means that the M3 Ultra chip will be redesigned as its own standalone chip, no longer being made up of 2x Max dies.”
Accordingly, Apple’s M3 Ultra (if it exists), likely won’t include efficiency cores but will scale much better in terms of performance than the M2 Ultra did. Yuryev also speculates that this could pave the way for more performance and GPU cores. Apple could also in theory add the UltraFusion tech to the M3 Ultra chip, paving the way for two combining to create an all-powerful M3 extreme chip. While this is all speculation, the absence of an M3 Ultra chip also means that this innovation could in fact debut with M4, with the M4 chip also eschewing UltraFusion in the Max chip, paving the way for M4 Ultra and M4 Extreme.
As noted, Apple is expected to significantly improve the AI capabilities of M4, likely doubling down on the Neural Engine present. Even the M3 chip offered a 60 percent speed boost over the M1’s Neural Engine, so Apple has significant pedigree when it comes to speedy AI advancements. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in April 2024, the new M4 chip will feature "a new neural engine" that will open up "fresh AI capabilities."
One of the biggest Apple silicon pain points is the 8GB of base unified memory in its cheapest Macs. While Apple insists that this is enough for base model users, M4 could be the perfect opportunity for Apple to set a new baseline of 16GB of unified memory for all of its Macs.
Apple M4 chip: Rumored Macs
So what products could M4 arrive in? Our most recent timeline from Gurman indicates that M4 could mark the first time that Apple pivots its entire Mac lineup to the latest generation of Apple silicon. This means we are hoping for an M4 version of every single Mac currently on the market. Naturally, M4 will also likely appear in a future iPad Pro, too. Here’s what we know so far, in chronological order based on Gurman’s most recent report:
M4 Macs
- 14-inch MacBook Pro, M4 - One of the first rumored M4 products is a replacement for the M3 MacBook Pro, which was new to Apple’s lineup in 2024. More expensive than the old M2 MBP, it features the Pro’s more modern chassis and its excellent 120Hz ProMotion display - Gurman has tipped this for “around the end of 2024.”
- M4 iMac - The M3 iMac was unveiled in October 2023. Apple appears to have settled on its current slimline, colorful all-in-one design, so this is unlikely to change. Like the 14-inch Pro, Gurman has tipped this for the end of 2024, and a simultaneous launch seems very likely here.
- M4 Pro, Max MacBook Pro, 14/16-inch - Apple’s more premium MacBook lineup, which also features the 120Hz ProMotion display and Apple’s “Pro” and “Max” chips are tipped for a launch “between the end of 2024 and early 2025.” That window indicates they aren’t likely to drop alongside the iMac and the base MBP, however, Apple did release all three versions of the M3 MacBook Pro at once, so it might try to repeat this with the M4. Still, a spring 2025 launch sounds more likely.
- M4, M4 Pro Mac mini - Mac mini is one of the Macs still sporting M2, but with an M4 and M4 Pro update tipped for “between the end of 2024 and early 2025,” and the M3 version in the meantime seems redundant. Apple’s Mac mini is so small that design changes and tweaks seem unlikely here, and there’s very little to dislike about Apple’s most affordable desktop.
- M4 MacBook Air, 13/15-inch - Apple’s most recently-updated Mac, Gurman says that we should expect to wait a full year for the new M4 version, which he tips for “around spring 2025.”
- M4 Mac Studio - Gurman says a new M4 version of the Mac Studio is coming “around the middle of 2025.” Like the Mac mini, we’re currently on the M2 Max and Ultra versions of the Mac mini, so while an M3 version isn’t totally off the cards, the current version is more than powerful enough to see us through the next year.
- M4 Ultra Mac Pro - Finally, the all-powerful Mac Pro is expected in the second half of 2025. The previous M2 version sports the same top-end chip as the Studio, raising some questions about its usefulness in the post-Intel Mac era. While this could be the perfect vessel for that M4 Extreme chip pondered above, Gurman refers to the M4 Ultra here.
M4 iPad Pro
In late April 2024, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported that Apple could in fact include the M4 chip in the OLED iPad Pro, expected to be unveiled at the Let Loose iPad event on May 7.
Apple silicon: A history
M1
Apple announced its transition to Apple silicon at WWDC in June 2020. Its M1 chip followed shortly after in November. Apple’s first system on a chip (SoC) featured four high-performance cores and four high-efficiency cores. Built on the 5nm manufacturing process, its 16 billion transistors delivered 3.5x faster CPU and 6x faster GPU performance than Intel Macs of old while doubling their battery life for its best MacBooks.
M1 Pro and M1 Max followed in October 2021. The former boasted a 10-core CPU with eight high-performance cores that were 70 percent faster than M1. The latter was a 10-core CPU with a 32-core GPU and the most powerful chip Apple had ever made until March 2022. M1 Ultra was essentially two M1 Max combined using Apple’s UltraFusion technology, a custom-built architecture that connected the two chips. M1 Ultra featured a 20-core CPU and 64GB GPU, as well as up to 128GB of Unified Memory.
M2
Barely three months later, Apple unveiled the new base-model M2 chip. Sharing many similar characteristics of the first-generation, the M2 chip boasted significant boosts to the CPU, GPU, and unified memory speeds. The M2 Pro and M2 Max chips debuted in January 2023. M2 Pro introduced 10 and 12-core options, more memory bandwidth, and up to 19 GPU cores, while M2 Max went further still with up to 38 GPU cores. Finally, in June 2023, Apple unveiled the M2 Ultra, following the same formula as the M1 Ultra. It offered a 20 percent faster CPU and a 30% faster GPU. With no M3 Ultra forthcoming, the M2 Ultra remains Apple’s fastest-benchmarking multi-core chip according to benchmarks.
M3
Just a few months later, Apple debuted M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max. As you can see, the speed at which Apple turns out chips has increased dramatically since M1, adding credence to the idea that M4 is probably just around the corner. The M3 chip’s biggest upgrade was its new 3nm process technology, which packed in more transistors into the same space. Apple’s M3 chip boasted efficiency and performance cores 30 percent and 15 percent faster than M2 respectively, with even heftier gains over M1. M3 Pro featured a 12-core CPU and an 18-core GPU, while M3 Max took us to a 16-core CPU with up to 40 GPU cores and 128GB of memory. As noted, no M3 Ultra has been forthcoming. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says an M3 Ultra “does exist internally at Apple,” but that Apple “could choose to wait until the M4 line.”
So there you have it, everything we know about M4 and future M4 Macs so far. If the latest leaks and timelines are correct, it’s going to be at least September before we hear anything about M4, and likely longer than that. Before then, Apple will lay the groundwork for its future Macs with macOS 15 at WWDC 2024.
