M4 MacBook Pro Leads Apple’s Staged AI Hardware Roadmap
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that Apple is preparing a broad Mac refresh spanning iMacs, Mac minis, Mac Studios and MacBook Pros, with an M4 MacBook Pro expected this fall and new MacBook Air and Mac Pro models next year. He argues that Apple’s response to AI demand will arrive in stages: near-term chip upgrades first, then a far later touchscreen OLED MacBook Pro powered by M5 chips, followed by M6 models designed more explicitly around on-device AI workloads.
Apple’s Mac refresh spans the desktop line, but the biggest laptop change is on a longer clock
Apple has about a dozen Macs in development, according to Mark Gurman. The reported lineup reaches across both desktop and notebook products: the first new iMacs in two years, new Mac minis and Mac Studios, a refreshed low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, and a new MacBook Air and Mac Pro expected next year.
The schedule is broad rather than concentrated in a single launch. Gurman said Apple has products coming over the next three, six and nine months, while characterizing the next two years as a “blockbuster period” for new products. The near-term MacBook Pro step is an M4 model expected in the September-to-October window; the high-end touch-enabled redesign is a separate and much more distant project.
| Product | Reported update | Timing described by Gurman |
|---|---|---|
| iMac | First new models in two years | No specific date stated |
| Mac mini | New models | No specific date stated |
| Mac Studio | New models | No specific date stated |
| Low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro | Refreshed model | No specific date stated |
| MacBook Pro | M4 model | September to October |
| MacBook Air | New model | Next year |
| Mac Pro | New model | Next year |
| High-end MacBook Pro | Touchscreen, OLED and Dynamic Island | Between the end of this decade and early next decade |
There are a few new MacBook Pros in development. There's the first M4 model, which is a major new chip, great for AI coming out September, October timeframe.
Ed Ludlow framed the question through the industry’s push for an “AI PC”: what would Apple’s version of that cycle look like? Gurman’s answer begins with a portfolio refresh and successive chip upgrades, not with a single newly branded category of machine. Apple is reportedly updating the familiar Mac range while reserving its most conspicuous hardware departure—a touchscreen Mac—for a later generation.
The AI pitch changes across the M4, M5 and M6 roadmap
Gurman’s account separates three steps that could otherwise blur together. First is the M4 MacBook Pro, due in the September-to-October window and described by Gurman as a major new chip that is “great for AI.” Second is the much later high-end MacBook Pro redesign, whose first versions would use M5 Pro and M5 Max chips that Gurman also characterized as good for AI. Third is a follow-on update about a year after those first redesigned machines, moving to M6 Pro and M6 Max.
The hardware redesign and the more expansive AI claim are therefore not the same launch. Gurman said the M5-based high-end MacBook Pro would be the first Mac with a touchscreen, as well as an OLED display and the Dynamic Island interface element. He placed it between the end of this decade and early next decade, calling it a “seriously hot machine” that he expects to be popular.
For the first time Apple's going to introduce a touch screen to the Mac.
For Gurman, the M6 generation is where the Mac silicon story becomes more explicitly centered on AI. He said M6 Pro and M6 Max would be “built entirely around artificial intelligence,” including on-device models and more advanced processing of both Apple’s own and third-party AI applications.
That produces a roadmap with distinct claims rather than one undifferentiated AI overhaul: an imminent M4 MacBook Pro positioned as capable for AI; an M5-based MacBook Pro that changes the machine’s display and input model; and an M6 successor framed around local models and more advanced AI processing. Gurman’s case for Apple’s AI strategy rests on that progression across the Mac line, not on the touchscreen machine arriving soon.