Forget The New MacBook Pro, Apple Has Something Better

14 Apr 2024 by Ewan Spence · Forbes

Updated April 14: article originally posted April 13.

Apple's latest MacBook Pro models may be the most advanced macOS laptops yet, but with 2024’s digital revolution set for the summer, they look set to be replaced before the end of the year.

Chinese customers look at the new MacBook Pro (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)Getty Images

Apple reporter Mark Gurman reports on plans to overhaul the MacBook portfolio. Writing for Bloomberg, he notes that Apple is ready to start production of the Apple Silicon M4 chipset for macOS and the MacBook Pro family.

Although Apple updated the MacBook Pro with M3 technology late October 2023, and the MacBook Air in March 2024, the M3 platform is lacking in one vital area… Artificial Intelligence. The current flagship ARM chipsets for smartphones developed by the likes of Qualcomm, Samsung and MediaTek all ship with dedicated hardware to support the use of LLM and Generative AI, and Qualcomm is presenting the Snapdragon X Elite, an ARM-based chipset for Windows laptops and desktops that should offer the same performance and power benefits as the Apple Silicon driving macOS hardware.

Several Windows manufacturers are expected to release laptops using Qualcomm's X Elite chipset, with Microsoft's new Surface hardware expected to launch exclusively with the ARM-based chipset.

Beyond the usual predictable increases thanks to Moore's Law, AI-focused hardware will be the key improvement in the M4 family, so much so that Apple is expected to upgrade its various MacBook Pro laptops as quickly as possible.

Gurman lists a low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro and high-end 14—and 16-inch MacBook Pros for a winter launch, alongside the desk-bound iMac and macMini. Of note is the lack of a MacBook Air. With the Pro laptops demanding the latest silicon for the M4 chipsets and a number of iPhone 16 models also expected to debut new AI-infused Apple Silicon, it may be that the available supply cannot meet demand if the Air is included in the mix.

MacBook Air laptops are displayed during WWDC22 (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)Getty Images

Apple will keep the M3 MacBook Air as the leading consumer-focused laptop for another eleven months, with an update “around spring 2025” for the 13-inch and 15-inch models with the base M4 chipset. The MacBook Pro updated pegged as the end of 2024 for the low-end Pro laptop and “end of 2024 and early in 2025” for the premium models.

Gurman also notes that Apple will turnover the entire Mac range to M4 as soon as possible. While this is de rigeur for the iPhone and its Axx chipset, the Mac world has seemingly seen some models skipping generation on a whim. That's not going to be the case for M4, and if it really is about offering AI capabilities at every price point, I can see why Apple is running this process as quickly as possible.

Mac sales fell by 27 percent in the previous financial year, and revenue in the crucial fourth quarter of 2023 was flat. Apple will be hoping that the focus on AI will tempt consumers to both join the macOS platform and upgrade from existing hardware.

June's Worldwide Developer Conference will see Apple present its vision of AI on its mobile platforms, including MacOS. With the Windows ecosystem set to break out its own AI system and an upgraded ARM experience, it makes sense to hold off on any major purchases to compare the approach of Apple and Microsoft and how much better they are over the current standards.