According to Mark Gurman of Bloomberg, Apple will start adding M4 chips to its Mac lineup in late 2024. The M4 chip’s primary goal is to boost AI capabilities through performance improvements.
Since Apple unveiled the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max chips all at once in October of last year, it’s possible the M4 lineup will be unveiled at the same time. According to Gurman, the M4 will be available for the entire Mac lineup in late 2024 or early 2025.
The 13- and 15-inch MacBook Air models, the Mac Studio in mid-2025, the Mac Pro later in 2025, and the iMac, low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, high-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, 16-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini computers will be the first to receive the M4 chip update.
According to reports, Apple is almost finished producing the M4 processor, which will be available in at least three different flavors. Donan, Brava, and Hidra are the codenames for the entry-level, mid-range, and premium chips, respectively. The low-end MacBook mini, MacBook Air, and entry-level MacBook Pro will all use the Donan chip, while the higher-end MacBook Pro and MacBook mini will use the Brava chip.
Given that it is made for the Mac Pro, the Hidra chip is likely classified as a “Ultra” or “Extreme” tier chip. Regarding the Mac Studio, Apple is testing variants that include an M4 Brava processor variant that is likely of a higher caliber than the M4 Pro and M4 Max “Brava” chips, as well as an unreleased M3-era chip.
The maximum Unified Memory that M4 versions of Mac desktop computers could support is 512GB, a significant increase over the current limit of 192GB.
Although TSMC, an Apple supplier, is expected to employ an enhanced version of the 3nm process for increased performance and power efficiency, the M4 chips will be constructed using the same 3-nanometer technology as the M3 chips. Apple also intends to include a significantly enhanced Neural Engine with more cores for AI applications.