A series of upgraded Macs sporting Apple’s newest M4 SoCs are scheduled to launch later this year, with the company reportedly following a similar unveiling strategy as it did with the M3. In short, we could see four next-generation chipsets being announced in the future, with the M4 Ultra also said to be developed for Apple’s most powerful machines.
New report hints that all M4 chipsets will tout incredible processing capabilities, as they will support advanced AI-related functionality
It is unsurprising to hear that the M4 specifications are yet to be revealed this early, especially when Apple’s M3 Ultra has not materialized. Regardless, Mark Gurman’s ‘Power On’ newsletter talks about the launch of the base M4, along with the M4 Pro and M4 Max. All three Apple Silicon carry a separate codename, just like the M4 Ultra, which is internally called ‘Hidra.’ However, the most powerful SoC will likely launch later, with the technology giant likely introducing the first three through a dedicated event, just like it did for the M3, M3 Pro, and M3 Max.
“The company is planning three main variations of the M4: a base chip dubbed Donan; higher-end versions codenamed Brava that will replace the M3 Pro and M3 Max; and an M4 Ultra dubbed Hidra. At the end of last year, Apple released a regular M3, M3 Pro and M3 Max, but an M3 Ultra hasn’t come to market. (Apple could choose to wait until the M4 line for a new Ultra, but it’s worth noting that an M3 variation does exist internally.)”
The CPU and GPU core counts are unknown, but the previous report mentioned that future Macs will support AI-related additions. As most of you know, running generative AI and other functions that fall under the branch of artificial intelligence require immense processing power, hinting that the entire M4 family could ship with more CPU and GPU cores to handle the taxing requirements. Additionally, we could be greeted with a higher cache and bigger Neural Engine to perform specific AI-related functions, though exact details are currently in the dark.
However, with the A18 and A18 Pro reported to sport a larger Neural Engine to run generative AI fluidly on iOS 18, we feel that Apple will deliver the same treatment to the first three members of Apple’s M4 lineup. Unfortunately, this is all the information that we have right now, and when we stumble across more updates, we will be sure to relay everything to our readers, so stay tuned.
