Apple’s most powerful Macs may wait until 2027 to get major chip upgrades

Apple is expected to change its usual strategy for releasing Mac devices, with BloombergMark Gurman reports that there will be no Pro or Max versions of the upcoming M6 chip. Instead, Apple wants to “accelerate technologies it originally planned to release later” with the launch of the M7 next year.

The Cupertino company will reportedly launch a base M6-only model “early this year,” and the base M7 chip is scheduled to launch sometime in the first half of 2027. The M7 Pro and M7 Max are then expected to follow “as early as the end of 2027.” This could leave the most powerful Macs at bay since Apple’s core chips are typically targeted at entry-level MacBooks, Mac minis, and iMacs. The upcoming M5 Ultra will likely be the only near-term upgrade opportunity for Apple’s high-end hardware.

This will be the first time that Apple will not release Pro and Max versions of its silicon processors, which have accompanied every new release until now. Since M1. Apple is still wrapping up its M5 lineup – M5 Pro/Max Released in March, the flagship M5 Ultra chip is scheduled to launch “early this year,” according to BloombergMark Gurman, as part of the new Mac Studio.

The M7 lineup, which is said to be designed around “key advances in on-device AI processing,” will be the next in the line to include the Pro, Max, and Ultra versions powering Apple’s most powerful hardware. The M7 Ultra is scheduled to be released sometime in 2028. Bloomberg Reports.