With the release of the iPad Pro, Apple has ushered in a new chip generation with the M4. The introduction of that chip disrupted Apple’s usual chip release cycle, however–the M3 was first released only six months ago in the MacBook Pro and iMac. The last device to get an M3 was the MacBook Air in January. What about the rest of the Mac lineup?
In the recent edition of his Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that the Mac Studio and Mac Pro aren’t on Apple’s release schedule until mid-2025. In April, Gurman reported that Apple was testing a Mac Studio with “a still-unreleased M3-era chip” as well as a M4-series chip, which left its status for release in 2024 unclear. But now it appears that Apple has decided to skip the M3-based Mac Studio, which likely also means it’ll skip the M3-based Mac Pro, too.
So, the current M2 Max/Ultra Mac Studio and M2 Ultra Mac Pro will remain in Apple’s lineup for another year. That also means that WWDC24 likely won’t have any new Mac announcements; Gurman reported in April that the M4 Mac rollout would start in the later part of 2024 with M4-based MacBook Pros and an iMac, which would be about a year after those Macs were released with the M3.
The other Mac that still uses M2-series chips is the Mac mini. Gurman reports that the Mac mini won’t be updated until later 2024 or earlier 2025. That leaves four Macs—the low-end MacBook Air, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro—with M2 chips and three Macs—the newer MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac—with M3 chips.
The decision to skip the M3-based Mac Studio and Mac Pro isn’t surprising. The M3 was the first chip made with the 3nm fabrication process, but the M4 uses a new enhanced 3nm process. As our own Jason Snell has pointed out, the two processes are incompatible, so Apple needed to make the switch to M4 to accommodate production.
With no new Mac hardware expected at WWDC24, the Mac spotlight turns to macOS 15 and any other apps, such as Xcode. WWDC24 is expected to have an AI focus, with several AI-based features being revealed. Those features will probably be iPhone- and iOS 18-centric and brought over to the Mac where applicable.
Read our Mac Studio superguide to learn more about Apple’s high-end desktop Mac. And get more information about WWDC24 and the upcoming macOS 15.
Author: Roman Loyola, Senior Editor, Macworld
Roman is a Macworld Senior Editor with over 30 years of experience covering the tech industry, focusing on the Mac and other products in the Apple ecosystem. He is also the host of the Macworld Podcast. His career started at MacUser, where he received Apple certification as a repair technician (when Apple did that kind of thing). He's also worked for MacAddict, MacLife, and TechTV.