M4 Macs Are Expected to Launch in This Order Starting Later This Year

[MacRumors]

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman recently reported that the first Macs with M4 series chips will be released later this year, with more models to follow next year. In his Power On newsletter today, Gurman shared a more specific roadmap for these Macs.

Here is the order in which Gurman expects the Macs to launch:

1. A low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4, coming around the end of 2024.
2. A 24-inch iMac with the M4, also expected around the end of the year.
3. New 14-inch and 16-inch high-end MacBook Pros with M4 Pro/Max chips, due between the end of 2024 and early 2025.
4. A Mac mini in both M4 and M4 Pro configurations, coming between the end of 2024 and early 2025.
5. New 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Airs, slated for around spring 2025.
6. A Mac Studio with a high-end M4 chip, coming around the middle of 2025.
7. A Mac Pro with an M4 Ultra chip, due in the second half of 2025.

Gurman reiterated that Apple has internally tested an M3 Ultra chip, which would be suitable for the Mac Studio and the Mac Pro, but he said it is "all but assured that at least some of Apple's high-end desktops" will skip the M3 chip series.

Gurman said that Apple will emphasize the artificial intelligence capabilities of the M4 chip series.

Article Link: M4 Macs Are Expected to Launch in This Order Starting Later This Year

 

[madmin]

M4 Mini ? Take my money !

 

[Chazz12]

I didn't read too much into the security bug in the M1-M3, but it makes sense as to why they would skip it for the higher end models rather than ship them with a flawed CPU.

 

[DavidSchaub]

It'll be interesting to see how this evolves.

Do the desktops mostly skip M5?

 

[MegaBlue]

If they skip M3U, then I think M4 would likely come this year. If their plans are to continue with M3U, M4 will definitely debut next year.

Interested to see what happens. I’m very happy with the performance of M3 Air right now. Can’t wait to see what M4 does add.

 

[gigapocket1]

February At the earliest

 

[turbineseaplane]

(Psst…)

“Please up the base RAM across the board”

 

[coffeemilktea]

2. A 24-inch iMac with the M4, also expected around the end of the year.

Please. 🙏

As someone who's a huge fan of iMacs and does most of my work on one, I really wanted to upgrade my aging Mac, but last year's M3 model was just so underwhelming. Could an M4 iMac actually turn out to be good? I really, really hope so!

 

[macXide]

delay again

 

[Dolmio]

It will be tricky for Apple to have exclusive AI features in iOS/ iPad os 18 dependent on a variant of A18/M4 required to run it considering that the iPad Pros won’t be released until May . I mean they could do for iPhone pro 16 but for the rest probably has to be software where would the neural engine makes real world as significant difference? Maybe something with on device processing vs cloud but otherwise could you really have a situation that your latest iPads aren’t able to do all the stuff in the latest version of OS 🤷‍♂️

 

[michelg1970]

Please. 🙏

As someone who's a huge fan of iMacs and does most of my work on one, I really wanted to upgrade my aging Mac, but last year's M3 model was just so underwhelming. Could an M4 iMac actually turn out to be good? I really, really hope so!

I am not using an iMac but a Mac Mini (M2 Pro) for daily needs and MBP (M1 Pro) for traveling. I am not aware what your workloads are, but my user experience is still more than enough to make me even consider a newer model.

 

[jz0309]

Good to see upgrades throughout the lineup.
My M1MBA and M1Max Studio are going very strong and won’t be replaced

 

[ric22]

Another MacBook Pro with a tablet process and fewer ports? 😅 Just kill the poor crippled beast already, it needs putting out of its misery... Especially now that the Pro chips have been handicapped so they're far inferior to the Max chips, they can definitely afford to stick one of those in it.

 

[ric22]

Also, shouldn't the premium chips- Pro and Max- always be released before/at the same time as the base chips? Give the buyers of the more expensive stuff a single core advantage for a short time?

 

[DavidSchaub]

It is very east to see where Apple could extend their product line:

 

[sw1tcher]

I still find it hard to believe Apple will announce M4 later this year when prior M-series chips averaged 16 months between announcements.

M1 was announced November 10, 2020
M2 was announced June 6, 2022
M3 was announced October 30, 2023

 

[DavidSchaub]

Also, shouldn't the premium chips- Pro and Max- always be released before/at the same time as the base chips? Give the buyers of the more expensive stuff a single core advantage for a short time?

I've never understood why this matters it anyone.

If you need the scaling of the pro chips, who cares what the consumer chips are doing.

This FOMO for the consumer line just confuses me.

 

[Chazz12]

It is very east to see where Apple could extend their product line:
View attachment 2368363

Yes please! I would name the 12" the MacBook Air, and the 13/15" just MacBook, though, since it would be in the middle.

 

[DavidSchaub]

Really, the biggest unknown and oddity about the M4 Rumours is:

- Why are the M4 Pro/Max given the same code name?
- Why is the M4 Ultra given its own code name?

Looking at M3, the above code names make zero sense.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I hope M4 max can support 256 GB RAM. If Apple skips M3 ultra and launched M4 Ultra with 512 GB RAM, I would be tempted to get a Mac Studio, at least try for 15 days. I haven’t owned a Mac Mini or Mac Pro in 12 years.

 

[Chuckeee]

So we really believe this Gurman Mac release schedule is going to so much more accurate than his series of iPad release dates?

You might convince me of the sequence (their order) but his schedule is just hand waving

 

[Fuzzball84]

M4 Mini ? Take my money !

Im sure Apple will 😂

 

[Newgoblin49]

Gurman also said the Mac Mini M3 was a “sure thing“

 

[Fuzzball84]

Also, shouldn't the premium chips- Pro and Max- always be released before/at the same time as the base chips? Give the buyers of the more expensive stuff a single core advantage for a short time?

That doesnt make sense at all..

The higher end Macs are designed more for multi core enabled processes that a regular user of the lower end devices would rarely, if ever, utilise.

You don't buy a Mac Pros for superior single core performance... and in any case, for single core performance the differences are negligible between regular and pro models.

Your hand on the mouse/trackpad would be more of a bottleneck than the single core performance. 😂

 

[TechnoMonk]

So we really believe this Gurman Mac release schedule is going to so much more accurate than his series of iPad release dates?

You might convince me of the sequence (their order) but his schedule is just hand waving

Take it with truck load of salt. He just keeps the discussion going.