Instead of launching the latest iPad Pro models with the M3 chipset, Apple introduced the M4 instead. It has a newer generation 3nm TSMC fabrication, with better efficiency. The M3 Macbooks launched fairly recently, in November 2023. The 16″ and 14″ M3 MacBook Pros will eventually be replaced in favor of the M4 models later this year.
According to a post on X from Ross Young (the post is subscribers-only), Apple is planning to launch the M4 MacBook Pros in the 4th Quarter of 2024. We’re not sure whether Apple will also follow this up with an M4 MacBook Air.
However, the possibility is rather unlikely since the launch of the M3 MacBook Air was extremely recent, around March 2024. Two revisions in the same year is generally not Apple’s strategy, so we can expect an M4 MacBook Air in 2025. The M3 Pro and M3 Max chipsets are also relatively new, but we expect the M4 series to be at the event at the end of this year.
As per Ross Young, display panel shipments for the new 14″ and 16″ MacBook will begin in Q3 2024. With this information, we can assume that Apple is planning to launch the M4 MacBooks at the end of this year, probably in November or December, as per recent trends.
Note that it doesn’t confirm a launch at the end of this year. Previously, Apple has postponed the MacBook launches till the next year. Remember the M2 Pro and M2 Max Macbook Pros? They were originally supposed to launch in 2022, but they instead launched them in January 2023, with a 20-minute launch event live on YouTube. The fact that these were supposed to launch in 2022 becomes even more obvious when you consider that these were very quickly followed up with the M3 Pro and M3 Max chipsets in November 2023.
The M4 is a significant step up from the M3. It has about 30% better single-core performance. The multi-core performance is around 25% better than the M3, as per Geekbench. It uses a newer Arm V9 architecture set. The clock speeds are higher for both the performance and efficiency cores. The TDP is far better, just 10W, as opposed to the previous 20W. This improves efficiency a lot.
25 Billion transistors on the M3, and the M4 has 28 Billion. The final notable upgrade is the M4 moving to a 10-core/10-thread configuration, up from 8-core/8-thread. Unfortunately, the GPUs are nearly identical in both. It just builds on the existing M3 architecture. We expect the M4 Pro and the M4 Max to feature similar incremental updates across the board.
As per Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Macs with M4 chips will mostly come out in 2024. Along with the MacBook Pros, Mark also expects a refresh for the popular Mac Mini. The Mac Mini will get both the M4 and M4 Pro options, similar to last time. We’re not sure about any updates to the Mac Studio. We assume the Mac Studio, the MacBook Air, and the flagship Mac Pro will get chip bumps in 2025. There are also no reports on the abandoned iMacs.
Finally, we don’t expect the new MacBook Pro models to ship with OLED displays. The iPad Pros got it this year. However, OLED MacBook Pros are mostly up for 2026, and not any time soon.
