TheAppleM3seriesofchipsdebutedlatelastyearintheMacBookProseriesandmorerecentlyintheMacBookAirM3,andasimpressiveastheM3seriesis,thereisnodoubtthatpeoplearelookingforwardtothenextone.ThegoodnewsisthattheM4chipmaybereadybythistimenextyear.

Anew"estimatedroadmap"frommarketanalysisfirmCanalys(viaTechRadar)suggeststhattheAppleM4chipcouldbeavailableinQ12025.ThisisnotaguaranteeofApple'splans,butisanestimatemadetoshowvariouscompanieswhattheircompetitors(inthiscaseApple,Intel,AMD,andQualcomm)areupto.

Inthepast,ApplehastypicallyspacednewgenerationsofM-serieschipsbyabout18months.Therefore,alateQ1toearlyQ22025releasewouldbequiteconsistentwiththat.Appleisnotthekindofpersonwhoreleasesnewproductsonsomeoneelse'sschedule.

CanalysalsopredictsthattheM4chipwillbeheavilyfocusedonAI,whichisnotabigsurprise;AIPCsarecurrentlyverymuchinthespotlight,andtherehasbeenagrowingpushoverthepastfewyearstoofferbetter,morepowerfulAI-enabledchips.Indeed,AppleissaidtobedoingjustthatwithitsiPhone16andA18chipsets,bothrumoredtooffersignificantlyimprovedneuralengines.

ApplealsomadeabigpushforAIwiththeMacBookAirM3,whichfeaturesanenhancedneuralengine.Appleevendeclaredit"theworld'sbestconsumerlaptopforAI".Inotherwords,theM4isguaranteedtoofferevenmoreAIfeaturesandperformance.

PerhapswecanalsoexpectmorehardwareupgradeswiththeM4chip:theM3performancecoreis30%fasterthantheM1,andtheefficiencycoreis50%faster.Nottomentiongraphicsperformance(hardware-acceleratedraytracingisnowontheM3)andpowerefficiency,forwhichApplesiliconhasbeenknownsinceitsinception.

However,itishardtosayatthispointhowmuchtheM4chipwillimproveperformanceandpowerefficiency.However,iftheiPhone16rumorsaresolid,Applemaypushformoreon-deviceprocessingratherthanrelegatingAIprocessingtothecloud.Wewillhavetowaitandseewhatadditionalinformationpopsupoverthenext12months.