During the Q&A session, dedicated to the Apple Car Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman touched on several other topics, including the fact that Apple has «begun formal development of» a new MacBook Pro with an M4 processor. However, he did not provide any additional details about the yet-to-be-announced chip.
Apple introduced the M1 Mac processor in November 2020, followed by the M2 in June 2022, and the M3 chip in late October 2023, i.e. at intervals of about a year and a half. If this trend continues, M4 will be released in the first half of 2025. However, if the interval is reduced to one year, it could be released in late 2024, transmits MacRumors.
The last time Apple updated MacBook Pro lineup in October, presenting M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max processors. As part of this update, Apple discontinued the 13-inch MacBook Pro and replaced it with a new base model, the 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M3 chip. Apple has also updated the iMac and MacBook Air with the M3 chip, leaving the Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro as the only current-generation computers still equipped with M2 chips.
Apple’s chipmaking partner TSMC is expected to start mass-producing chips based on the 2-nm process in the second half of 2025, so the M4 is likely to be 3nm, just like the M3. However, the M4 chip is likely to be manufactured on an improved version of TSMC’s 3nm process to improve performance and energy efficiency.