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Here's Why Apple is Reportedly Skipping M6 Pro and M6 Max Chips

M6 will go in the iMac, MacBook Air, and iPad Pro. Everything else will skip and get M7 (Studio, Mac mini, MacBook Pros).

It'll be interesting to see if the Mac mini will get the M5. I wouldn't be surprised if Apple skips from M4 to M7 on the mini. In the past the mini has had a checkered upgrade cycle.
 
Pezimak said:
Right right and so how exactly does there impact the majority of users, who are NOT in the Ai sector, and want to buy new Macs when the M7 is out in ALL the models? Well maybe they could get a Studio as Apple seems to like keeping that a generation or two behind....
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Why would you demand that the M7 be out in ALL the models? The super AI chips are going to be space heaters. Engaging AI mode on AMD's AI centered CPUs doubles the power consumption. Apple can't ignore physics either.

M6 for those places where power consumption matters (iPad Pros and MBA), and M7 for where it doesn't (desktops and those laptops with fans.)

The mini is the question. They could have a low end mini with an M6 and the high end one with the M7 (Pro?)

If M7 = M7 Pro that would solve the confusion of having a MacBook Pro with a Pro CPU. So you could have a MacBook with an M6 but the same ports as now for those who find the MBA to be port-starved, then the MacBook Pro would have the M7 or the M7 Max.
 
I have yet to purchase an MBP with an M chip because I’m trying to get the best deal that will have some staying power for the future.

I think to be honest a base M4 MBP might be the play for me since I don’t need a ton of power for my use case but I want better features that the Air doesn’t offer.

The prices on the M4 (non Pro/Max) are getting very tempting as a replacement for my 15” M2 MBA.

With that being said with M6 and M7 builds on the horizon I could perhaps find a deal on a base M5 MBP instead. 🤔
 
My neighbor who happens to be a BMW nut and loves Apple products brought up a funny thing. With how many companies have sued Apple for copyright infringements he is surprised that BMW hasn’t yet.
 
Blue Nova said:
The “M” stands for Mac — it’s Apple’s branding for its own custom silicon chips designed for the Mac lineup (as opposed to the “A” series used in iPhones and iPads).

I looked it up using Claude, ChatGPT did not know?
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But I'm sure it is just guessing and presenting that guess as fact. 🙄
 
StrollerEd said:
Now reflecting that upgrading from an M1Max MBP to an M5Pro MBP was very sensible ... Mind, an M4 model would probably have sufficed.
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I was considering the same upgrade literally a day before the price increases. In the case of a 14” MBP M5 Pro with 48GB RAM, the price increase was over 20% which put me off buying. The value proposition of the M5 line just decreased, making it worthwhile to wait for the next generation to get more bang for buck.

If there is no M6 Pro, then it looks like I’ll be waiting at least 12-18 months for an M7 Pro. Maybe not a bad thing, as this will presumably be a second generation 2nm SoC, which irons out any issues, and may bring some improvements.
 
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MacRumors said:
  • M7 Pro and M7 Max chips: Second half of 2027
  • M7 Ultra chip: 2028
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Unfortunately, I suspect this means that the M7 Max Studio won't be released until 2028.

Even though Apple could release the M7 Max Studio along with the M7 Max MacBook Pro, its practice has always been to release the Max and Ultra Studios together. That means the M7 Max Studio will be delayed until the M7 Ultra chip is available:

March 18, 2022: M1 Max & M1 Ultra Studios released
June 13, 2023: M2 Max & M2 Ultra Studios released
March 12, 2025: M4 Max & M3 Ultra Studios released
Late 2026 (previous rumors): M5 Max & M5 Ultra Studios to be released
2028 (this rumor + typical co-release of Max and Ultra Studios): M7 Max & M7 Ultra Studios to be released
 
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I was so close to getting an M4 Mac mini when the M5 came out (seemingly surprisingly early) so I was just like “oh they’ll put it in the mini any minute” and then they didn’t and then RAMpocalypse happened. If Gurman’s timeline is right, I hope they put the M6 in every appropriate Mac and iPad on day one!
 
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Siliconguy said:
Why would you demand that the M7 be out in ALL the models? The super AI chips are going to be space heaters. Engaging AI mode on AMD's AI centered CPUs doubles the power consumption. Apple can't ignore physics either.

M6 for those places where power consumption matters (iPad Pros and MBA), and M7 for where it doesn't (desktops and those laptops with fans.)

The mini is the question. They could have a low end mini with an M6 and the high end one with the M7 (Pro?)

If M7 = M7 Pro that would solve the confusion of having a MacBook Pro with a Pro CPU. So you could have a MacBook with an M6 but the same ports as now for those who find the MBA to be port-starved, then the MacBook Pro would have the M7 or the M7 Max.
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So you're suggesting Apple will only fit the M7 and beyond onto select models, everything else will be left on M6? Interesting thought but it won't happen, not that the iPad needs it.
 
A fun thing about Apple naming their lower power chips the A series and the beefier ones the M series is that generic ARM Cortex-A and Cortex-M designs are the opposite. And the Apple A4 was based on the Cortex-A8.
 
asiga said:
What about the rumored Macbook Ultra then? Will it be delayed to the second half of 2027, or will it feature M5 Pro/Max/Ultra chips?
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Good question: last we heard it will have M5 Pro/Max chips, but I guess we'll know more soon.
 
kaisdaddy said:
Unless Apple can figure out a way to meaningfully bring down the price on memory, they will relegate the Studio to the same fate as the Pro. My M1 Ultra with 128GB of ram is still very capable. I'd love to upgrade to an M7 Ultra with significantly more ram, but at this pace we're going to be looking at a cost comparable to a compact car.
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Another example of hobbyists being painfully ignorant of professional workflows.

The M5 Ultra Mac Studio with 768GB of RAM will cost over $30,000. That price is a bargain for the corporations, institutions, universities, and AI professionals who need to run enormous models locally. Apple will sell every single one they can make.

It's not designed to go on your desk.
 
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There's so many things in this article that makes no sense. Why would Apple release a chip that gets replaced in 3 months? Why would apple jump a number without needing to? They could call the M7 in this article and M6 and achieve the same thing.

Would selling a M6 macbook pro be that meaningful for 3-6 months? The only like way this could make any sense is if apple plans to maintain two tiers of products, but they went away from that as well on the iphone.
 
Some people seem to have the memory of a goldfish.

The time between the M3 and M4 launch was 6 months.

But somehow, Apple doing something similar with M6 and M7 is impossible.
 
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