Apple is ramping up its development of the next-gen M4 chips, which will bring new Macs to the market by the end of 2024, with a major focus on improving AI performance.
After the M3 launch in October 2023, industry expert Mark Gurman suggests the M4 series will follow suit with a similar release date in October.
The upgrade roll-out will begin with iMacs, entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pros, and high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, along with Mac minis.
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Early 2025 will bring changes to the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs, followed by updates to the Mac Studio around mid-2025, and finally the Mac Pro by late 2025.
Three different M4 chip types are in development, each with its own codename:
- Donan (budget-friendly)
- Brava (mid-tier)
- Hidra (top-tier)
The Donan chip will power entry-level models of the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac mini. Brava will be fitted into premium MacBook Pro and Mac mini options, while Hidra will be the powerhouse choice for Mac Pro.
The new M4 Mac desktops will get a big memory boost, supporting up to 512GB of unified memory, much higher than the current 192GB cap. Even though Apple will stick with the same 3nm chip manufacturing process as with the M3, TSMC may use an enhanced version to improve both performance and energy efficiency. Apple is also looking to strengthen the Neural Engine, likely by increasing the number of AI processing cores.
Will this new era of M4 chip technology redefine your Mac experience?