With the discharge of the iPad Professional, Apple has ushered in a brand new chip era with the M4. The introduction of that chip disrupted Apple’s typical chip launch cycle, nevertheless–the M3 was first launched solely six months in the past within the MacBook Professional and iMac. The final system to get an M3 was the MacBook Air in January. What about the remainder of the Mac lineup?
Within the latest version of his Energy On publication, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman stories that the Mac Studio and Mac Professional aren’t on Apple’s launch schedule till mid-2025. In April, Gurman reported that Apple was testing a Mac Studio with “a still-unreleased M3-era chip” in addition to a M4-series chip, which left its standing for launch in 2024 unclear. However now it seems that Apple has determined to skip the M3-based Mac Studio, which doubtless additionally means it’ll skip the M3-based Mac Professional, too.
So, the present M2 Max/Extremely Mac Studio and M2 Extremely Mac Professional will stay in Apple’s lineup for an additional yr. That additionally implies that WWDC24 doubtless gained’t have any new Mac bulletins; Gurman reported in April that the M4 Mac rollout would begin within the later a part of 2024 with M4-based MacBook Professionals and an iMac, which might be a few yr after these Macs have been launched with the M3.
The opposite Mac that also makes use of M2-series chips is the Mac mini. Gurman stories that the Mac mini gained’t be up to date till later 2024 or earlier 2025. That leaves 4 Macs—the low-end MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Professional—with M2 chips and three Macs—the newer MacBook Air, MacBook Professional, and iMac—with M3 chips.
The choice to skip the M3-based Mac Studio and Mac Professional isn’t stunning. The M3 was the primary chip made with the 3nm fabrication course of, however the M4 makes use of a brand new enhanced 3nm course of. As our personal Jason Snell has identified, the 2 processes are incompatible, so Apple wanted to make the change to M4 to accommodate manufacturing.
With no new Mac {hardware} anticipated at WWDC24, the Mac highlight turns to macOS 15 and another apps, resembling Xcode. WWDC24 is anticipated to have an AI focus, with a number of AI-based options being revealed. These options will most likely be iPhone- and iOS 18-centric and introduced over to the Mac the place relevant.
Learn our Mac Studio superguide to study extra about Apple’s high-end desktop Mac. And get extra details about WWDC24 and the upcoming macOS 15.