Apple is planning to refresh the MacBook Pro with M4 chips starting in late 2024, and this guide aggregates everything that we know about Apple’s M4 MacBook Pro plans.
M4 Update
Apple built the M3 chip on a new 3-nanometer process, and we are not expecting a node change for the M4. It too will be a 3-nanometer chip, but Apple supplier TSMC could introduce updates that make it more efficient and faster.
New artificial intelligence capabilities are rumored for Apple’s upcoming products, and so the M4 will focus on AI. Apple wants to improve performance for AI functionality, and rumors suggest that the M4 (and the A18 chips for iPhone) will have an upgraded Neural Engine with “significantly” more cores.
The M3 chips all have a 16-core Neural Engine, and Apple has not increased the Neural Engine cores for several years.
Entry-Level 14-Inch MacBook Pro
With the M3 chip launch last year, Apple did away with the 13-inch MacBook Pro. It’s been replaced with the 14-inch MacBook Pro, which Apple now offers with three different chip options.
The entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro has an M3 chip and a $1,599 starting price, and this is the model that will get the standard M4 chip. The current M3 chip has an 8-core CPU and up to a 10-core GPU, and the M4 could be similar.
Higher-End 14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro Models
For customers who want a more “pro” machine, the higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models are set to be refreshed with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, which are more powerful versions of the faster M4 chip.
The current M3 Pro has up to a 12-core CPU and up to an 18-core GPU, while the M3 Max has up to a 16-core CPU and up to a 40-core GPU. CPU and GPU improvements for the M4 Pro and M4 Max aren’t yet known.
Design Changes?
There are no rumors of a design change for the MacBook Pro at this time, and we’re not quite due for one. Apple last updated the MacBook Pro design in 2021 with the transition to Apple silicon. In recent history, Apple has redesigned the MacBook in 2012, 2016, and 2021, so following that pattern, we’ll see the next design tweak in 2025 or 2026.
This year’s M-series update will likely be limited to the MacBook Pro’s internals.
Launch Date
According to Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman, the entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro could get an M4 chip in late 2024, while the timeline for the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro refresh is estimated at late 2024 to early 2025.
We could see the M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max variants come out all at once like the M3 chip lineup, or Apple could space them out across several months.
The M3 MacBook Pro models came out in October 2023, so a refresh around October 2024 would come at the one-year mark.