LOS ANGELES - Apple, aiming to boost sluggish computer sales, is preparing to overhaul its entire Mac line with a new family of in-house processors designed to highlight artificial intelligence (AI).
The company, which released its first Macs with M3 chips in October 2023, is already nearing production of the next generation – the M4 processor – according to people with knowledge of the matter. The new chip will come in at least three main varieties, and Apple is looking to update every Mac model with it, they added.
The new Macs are under way at a critical time. After peaking in 2022, Mac sales fell 27 per cent in the fiscal year, which ended in September 2023. During the holiday period, revenue from the computer line was flat.
Apple attempted to breathe new life into the Mac business with an M3-focused launch event in October 2023, but those chips did not bring major performance improvements over the M2 from the prior year.
Apple is also playing catch-up in AI, where it is seen as a laggard to Microsoft, Alphabet’s Google and other tech peers. The new chips are part of a broader push to weave AI capabilities into all its products.
Apple is aiming to release the updated computers beginning in late 2024 and extending into early 2025. There will be new iMacs, a low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, and Mac minis – all with M4 chips. But the company’s plans could change.
Apple shares climbed 4.3 per cent to US$175.04 on April 11 in New York, the biggest single-day gain in 11 months. They had been down 13 per cent in 2024 through April 10.
The move will mark a quick refresh schedule for the iMac and MacBook Pro, as both lines were just updated in October. The Mac mini was last upgraded in January 2023.
Apple is then planning to follow up with more M4 Macs throughout 2025. That includes updates to the 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air by spring, the Mac Studio around the middle of the year, and the Mac Pro later in 2025. The MacBook Air received the M3 chip in March 2024, while the Mac Studio and Mac Pro were updated with M2 processors in 2023.
The M4 chip line includes an entry-level version dubbed Donan, more powerful models named Brava, and a top-end processor code-named Hidra.
The company is planning to highlight the AI processing capabilities of the components and how they will integrate with the next version of macOS, which will be announced in June at Apple’s annual developer conference.
The Donan chip is coming to the entry-level MacBook Pro, the new MacBook Airs and a low-end version of the Mac mini, while the Brava chips will run the high-end MacBook Pros and a pricier version of the Mac mini.
For the Mac Studio, Apple is testing versions with both a still-unreleased M3-era chip and a variation of the M4 Brava processor.
The highest-end Apple desktop, the Mac Pro, is set to get the new Hidra chip. The Mac Pro remains the lower-selling model in the company’s computer line-up, but it has a vocal fan base. After some customers complained about the specifications of Apple’s in-house chips, the company is looking to beef up that machine in 2025.
As part of the upgrades, Apple is considering allowing its highest-end Mac desktops to support as much as 0.5TB of memory. The current Mac Studio and Mac Pro top out at 192GB – far less capacity than on Apple’s previous Mac Pro, which used an Intel processor. The earlier machine worked with off-the-shelf memory that could be added later and handle as much as 1.5TB. With Apple’s in-house chips, the memory is more deeply integrated into the main processor, making it harder to add more.
The big focus for Apple in 2024 is to add new AI features across its products. The company is planning to preview a slew of new features at its June developer conference. A large swathe of those features are designed to run on the devices themselves – rather than in remote servers – and speedier chips will help drive those enhancements. Apple is also planning to make AI-focused upgrades to 2024’s iPhone processor.
The company’s switch to in-house chips was part of a long-running initiative known as Apple Silicon. The tech giant started using its own semiconductors in the original iPad and iPhone 4 in 2010, before bringing the technology to the Mac in 2020. The goal has been to better unify its hardware and software with underlying components and move away from processors made by Intel.
So far, the effort has been a success, helping boost performance and ease the redesign of devices such as the latest MacBook Air, iMac and MacBook Pro.
Apple’s Mac chips are based on the same underlying Arm Holdings architecture as the processors in the iPhone and iPad, enabling thinner products with better battery life and less need for cooling fans. BLOOMBERG
