The first M4 Macs could land this year as Apple looks to make up ground in the AI race
More? Already?
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
Applecould launch its next generation of in-house processors as early as this year, updating its computing hardware through 2024 and into 2025 with M4 chips - which are expected to offer a big push towards AI capabilities.
Reliable Apple leakerMark Gurman reportsthat these potential new Macs would arrive at a “critical time [because] Mac sales fell 27% in the last fiscal year.” Gurman suggests that the new in-house silicon is nearing production and that the M4 chip will come in three varieties (unsurprising, given the existence of theM3 ProandM3 Maxchips). He claims that the new chips will be offered across all Mac products, including theMac Studioand Mac Pro.
The codenames Donan, Brava, and Hidra have been assigned to the three varieties of M4 according to Gurman’s unnamed sources. We also have a potential refresh schedule that suggests the iMac, MacBook Pros, and Mac Mini will be released first with the new chips but no significant design changes, followed by the MacBook Air and Mac Studio later this year. The Mac Pro may have to wait for 2025 for a refresh, but if these rumors are true that’s still a pretty tight turnaround for Apple to meet.
Perhaps a bit more time?
If this is true and Apple is hammering out the kinks before dropping the M4 bomb on us, it would mean averyshort life cycle for the M3 chip, considering that the chip only launched with newiMacandMacBook Promodels in October 2023. TheM3 MacBook Airlaunched just last month, so some users might end up frustrated that Apple is forging ahead so soon.
While it’s always exciting to see what Apple has in store for us, it does seem like the tech giant is desperate to catch up to the competition to produce AI-focused chips and computers. We’re all familiar with Apple’s strategy of ‘watching and waiting’ rather than diving right into new emergent tech (like letting the VR industry flounder for years before revealing theApple Vision Pro), so it’s not surprising that the MacBook maker would be late to the AI party. It seems like the wait is over, however, and Apple is ready to show off what its new chip can do.
As for what a newfound focus on hardware-driven AI will look like, that’s anyone’s guess - Gurman hasn’t provided any in-depth details about the M4 chip’s microarchitecture, but it seems likely that M4 will feature aneural processing unit (NPU). That’s a dedicated processor for handling AI-related workloads, which helps reduce the strain on the chip’s CPU and GPU. Apple’s key competitors likeIntelandAMD(and most recentlyQualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chip) are all sporting shiny new NPUs, so it makes sense that Apple would want to catch up.
Again, we have no real confirmation that any of this is true, even if Gurman is a very reliable source of information. So we suggest you don’t get your hopes up too soon. Personally, I hope it isn’t true. Not to sound like a tree-hugging spoilsport, but wejustgot new devices - why should we waste precious resources to shell out more so soon after the arrival of the M3 chips?
Get the best Black Friday deals direct to your inbox, plus news, reviews, and more.
Sign up to be the first to know about unmissable Black Friday deals on top tech, plus get all your favorite TechRadar content.
I understand the need for technology to progress - it’s inevitable. I just hope we get a little more time with what we have, so we can actually grow to appreciate it.
You might also like…
Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison.
Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she’s joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you’ve got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you’re in the right place.
Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook’s Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).
Apple iMac 24-inch M4 (2024) review: the best, and most colorful, all-in-one computer levels up
A new dawn for Mac gaming? Apple’s M4 Mac mini will support hardware-accelerated ray tracing
7 myths about email security everyone should stop believing
