When to Expect New M4 MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro Models

Tuesday November 26, 2024 4:08 am PST by Tim Hardwick

Apple's fall 2024 Mac announcements have included new iMac, Mac mini, and MacBook Pro models, all of which debuted with variants of Apple's M4 chip. Apple intends to update the rest of its Mac lineup with M4 series processors over the next 12 months, which will make it the first time that Apple has used the same chip generation across all of its Macs.

M4 M4 Pro vs M4 Max Feature
This means we can expect new M4 versions of MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro models next year. Here's what the latest rumors tell us about when each machine will launch, and what kinds of upgrades we can expect for them.

M4 MacBook Air

Apple in March 2024 launched updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models equipped with Apple's M3 chip, and the company will soon start production of M4 versions ahead of an early 2025 launch, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. There are no new design changes planned for the ‌MacBook Air‌ models, and the focus will be on the M4 chip, but the base model will come with at least 16GB of RAM, after Apple updated the base M3 model to 16GB, up from 8GB. An M4 MacBook Air could also feature a new 12MP Centre Stage camera with Desk View support, an improvement over the current 1080p FaceTime HD camera, given that both the new M4 iMac and M4 MacBook Pro models also debuted with the upgraded camera. The ‌machines will arrive next year between January and March.

M4 Mac Studio

Apple plans to refresh the Mac Studio after the M4 MacBook Air has been released in early 2025. It will be equipped with a variation of the M4 processor – likely an M4 Ultra or Max chip. The current model comes in both M2 Max and M2 Ultra variants. Given that the Mac mini with M4 Pro chip and Apple's latest high-end MacBook Pro models include Thunderbolt 5 ports, it's certain that the Mac Studio will also adopt them. Mark Gurman claims that the ‌Mac Studio‌ was on track to be updated alongside the ‌MacBook Air‌, but it is now going to see a refresh between March and June. In previous reports, he said the ‌Mac Studio‌ would come out in mid-2025, so it is unclear what has changed.

M4 Mac Pro

Apple last updated the Mac Pro in June 2023, adding an M2 Ultra chip and officially completing the transition away from Intel chips. Apple will refresh the Mac Pro in the summer of 2025, according to Mark Gurman. Like the Mac Studio, the next Mac Pro will skip the M3 series. Instead it will be equipped with the highest-end version of the M4 chip, codenamed "Hidra." Based on the description of the chip, it could be positioned as an "Ultra" or "Extreme" chip. Gurman has said the M4 Ultra chip in the next Mac Pro will "probably" have up to a 32-core CPU and up to an 80-core GPU, which would be double the M4 Max's up to 16-core CPU and up to 40-core GPU. The next Mac Pro is expected to feature Thunderbolt 5 ports. It could also support up to 512GB of memory, a notable increase over the current 192GB limit.

M4 Series Performance

Like the M3, the M4 is built on a 3nm process, but with enhancements from Apple supplier TSMC for improved performance and power efficiency. The M4 also includes an improved Neural Engine that fuels accelerated AI workloads. Apple says it is the company's most powerful Neural Engine ever, capable of 38 trillion operations per second.

Geekbench 6 benchmark results have surfaced for Apple's new M4 Pro and M4 Max chips in the new Mac mini and MacBook Pro models, so we have some indications of performance. In the new Mac mini and MacBook Pro models, the highest-end variants of the M4 Pro and M4 Max both outperform the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in the Mac Studio and Mac Pro: The M4 Max is up to 25% faster than the M2 Ultra in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. M4 Pro's impressive performance gains are partly due to the M3 Pro being a very minor upgrade over the M2 Pro chip last year. Meanwhile, the M4 Max is up to 20% faster than the M4 Pro when it comes to peak multi-core CPU performance.

In terms of graphics performance, Geekbench 6 results indicate that the M4 Pro and M4 Max are up to around 40% and 25% faster for graphics than the M3 Pro and M3 Max chips, respectively. Notably, the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the highest-end M4 Max with a 40-core GPU has up to 85% as fast graphics as the Mac Studio with the highest-end M2 Ultra chip with a 76-core GPU, even though it has 36 fewer GPU cores.

Top Rated Comments

soyazul

25 months ago

the same publication all over again, and again and again.

Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)

AusMness

25 months ago

I really wish the MBA was refreshed alongside the Pros

Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)

jouster

25 months ago

I still don’t believe the Mac Pro was originally intended to top out with an Ultra. I think they were unable to fab an Extreme efficiently enough to sell at the price they were aiming for. So I believe they viewed selling the M2 Ultra model as the lesser of two evils, compared to releasing nothing.

I think there’s a market for a box with substantial cooling capacity, PCIE slots, and more compute. And the Pro should be the showcase for the best CPU they can deliver. I don’t need one but I hope they make one.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Bearxor

25 months ago

As a Studio ULTRA owner, I don’t buy it again if it is last in line for a generation of chips. Why? Because the M5 MAX will likely have comparable power for a much lower price, released only up to about 6 months later.

IMO: time to flip the order, preserving the all-important FALL releases as is but making Studio & PRO be FIRST with M5 MAX & ULTRA and thus can be “most powerful Mac” for longer than only a few months. Basically the concept flips ULTRA & MAX releases with BASE releases, leaving PRO & MAX releases exactly where they are now.

Why would Apple be interested? Presumably, these are the most profitable Macs on a per-unit-sold basis. Anyone buying one of these instead of MBpro MAX for “most power” are prob buying only 1 Mac that year anyway. So Apple makes more profit on any upward “cannibalization” per unit sold, while still getting the volume revenue by selling the Fall releases right on schedule. In other words, conceptually this slightly bumps up that small percentage that buy Studio or Pro in pursuit of “most powerful” Mac, yielding more profit in those sales for Apple. The Fall crowd still buys in big numbers. A revised Spring crowd feels the pull to step up too vs. waiting for “cheapest” Macs, knowing the next gen chips arrive right behind them. If that “pull” also works on some of them, they too are presumably buying more profitable Macs. 💰💰💰

Else, for me anyway, I don’t pay way up for it again when just a few months of patience will deliver M5 MAX. I understand that others will feel differently- just MY own opinion here.

Sure, but you know this won't change. The MBP sells more and fab space is limited and the timing doesn't work out the way you want. By the time they're prepping M4 Ultra chips (probably right now) the yields will be better and the MBP sales will start to slow down so they can divert Max chips over to MP and MS allocations.

I think this is fine as long as Apple gets in the habit of updating the Studio and Pro on a yearly basis as opposed to letting them age like they did the M2 variants. An M4 Ultra will be faster than a M5 Max but probably not an M6 Max.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

HobeSoundDarryl

25 months ago

As a Studio ULTRA owner, I don’t buy it again if it is last in line for a generation of chips. Why? Because the M5 MAX will likely have comparable power for a much lower price, released only up to about 6 months later.

IMO: time to flip the order, preserving the all-important FALL releases as is but making Studio & PRO be FIRST with M5 MAX & ULTRA and thus can be “most powerful Mac” for longer than only a few months. Basically the concept flips ULTRA & MAX releases with BASE releases, leaving PRO & MAX releases exactly where they are now.

Why would Apple be interested? Presumably, these are the most profitable Macs on a per-unit-sold basis. Anyone buying one of these instead of MBpro MAX for “most power” are prob buying only 1 Mac that year anyway. So Apple makes more profit on any upward “cannibalization” per unit sold, while still getting the volume revenue by selling the Fall releases right on schedule. In other words, conceptually this slightly bumps up that small percentage that buy Studio or Pro in pursuit of “most powerful” Mac, yielding more profit in those sales for Apple. The Fall crowd still buys in big numbers. A revised Spring crowd feels the pull to step up too vs. waiting for “cheapest” Macs, knowing the next gen chips arrive right behind them. If that “pull” also works on some of them, they too are presumably buying more profitable Macs. 💰💰💰

Else, for me anyway, I don’t pay way up for it again when just a few months of patience will deliver M5 MAX. I understand that others will feel differently- just MY own opinion here.

Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)

JtheLemur

25 months ago

They need to do the MacBook Air in colors like the iMac, FFS.

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

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When to Expect New M4 MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro Models

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