Apple continues to release generations of MacBooks at an accelerating pace. A few weeks after the launch of the MacBook Air M3, here is already the M4 generation on the horizon.
Four generations in four years? Since the switch to Apple Silicon chips on Macs in 2020, the Californian brand has been releasing generations of Macs and MacBooks at an accelerated pace. Let’s face it, what’s new from one generation to the next is sometimes quite light.
While we are still digesting the arrival of the M3 generation unveiled in early March 2024, specialist journalist Mark Gurman is starting to discuss the arrival of the M4 generation this year in the columns of Bloomberg.
The era of “PC AI” also at Apple
According to the journalist, Apple is preparing a complete renewal of its computer range to try to boost sales. For this, the brand is preparing an Apple M4 generation whose emphasis would be placed on AI, to stay in the big trend of 2024.
Starting in May, Microsoft is preparing the presentation of a new generation of PCs relying on generative AI to differentiate itself, opening “ the era of AI PCs “. Apple should also take part with its Macs. The brand will undoubtedly invest in an increase in the performance of the NPU, the processor dedicated to AI which helps the CPU and the GPU.
Apple is expected to make announcements around AI, particularly for the iPhone, at WWDC in June. We can imagine an improvement to Siri, Apple’s voice assistant. For its debut, Apple would use Google Gemini to power its AI functions.
Three bullets
According to Mark Gurman, the M4 generation would be composed of three chips which are assumed to be the Apple M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max, at least initially. The deployment would first take place at the end of this year before continuing in 2025. Apple would have planned new iMacs, 14- and 16-inch MacBook Pros as well as a new generation of Mac mini. The latter did not have the right to the Apple M3 generation and seems destined to skip a generation directly to arrive at the M4 chip. If Apple maintains its price, the Mac mini will remain one of the best PCs on the market.
This new generation would also be an opportunity for Apple to update the possible configurations. So the new Mac Pro would, for example, be capable of receiving up to 512 GB of RAM. Above all, we hope that this will be an opportunity for Apple to offer better than 256 GB of storage and 8 GB of RAM on its most accessible PCs.