According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple will be releasing a regular M6 chip, but it has no plans to offer higher-end M6 Pro and M6 Max chips. In his Power On newsletter today, he said the reason for this break in tradition is AI.
"Apple had been planning major neural-processing upgrades for the M7 family and ultimately decided those improvements were important enough to justify accelerating the next generation rather than completing the M6 lineup," he explained.
There won't be an M6 Ultra chip either, he said.
A new 14-inch MacBook Pro with a base M6 chip will be released later this year, and then Apple plans to move on to releasing the base M7 chip in the first half of 2027, M7 Pro and M7 Max chips in late 2027, and an M7 Ultra chip in 2028.
He said the M7 Ultra chip in particular "dramatically upgrades AI performance," and that it may power Apple Intelligence servers starting in 2029.
"AI is no longer just another feature Apple's chips need to support," said Gurman. "It is now shaping how those products are designed and when they are shipped."
The current M5 Pro and M5 Max chips launched in March, and Gurman still expects an M5 Ultra chip to debut in the Mac Studio as early as this year.
A summary:
- M5 chip: October 2025
- M5 Pro and M5 Max chips: March 2026
- M5 Ultra chip: Late 2026
- M6 chip: Late 2026
- M7 chip: First half of 2027
- M7 Pro and M7 Max chips: Second half of 2027
- M7 Ultra chip: 2028
