苹果将于今年晚些时候推出搭载M4芯片的新款Mac

最新消息表明，苹果正在研发将于今年晚些时候推出的M4芯片，这将为Mac开启增强型AI能力的大门。

据彭博社知名分析师Mark Gurman透露，苹果将在今年晚些时候用新款M4芯片升级Mac产品线，从而提升笔记本电脑的AI能力。

苹果正深度投入将生成式AI技术引入包括iPhone、iPad和Mac在内的各产品中，预计iPhone将在今年晚些时候随iOS 18的发布而升级。Gurman指出，M4芯片将在今年晚些时候应用于多款Mac电脑，我们猜测苹果会效仿去年，在2024年第四季度推出升级版MacBook Pro。

在性能和效率提升之外，芯片的主要亮点将是经过改进的神经引擎，具有更高的核心数以实现更好的AI处理能力。苹果计划“强调组件的AI处理能力及其如何与下一版本macOS集成”。这意味着macOS与M4芯片将紧密协作，实现无缝AI处理。

苹果内部正在测试M4芯片的三种变体，它们将分别应用于公司旗下的MacBook Air、MacBook Pro和Mac Studio系列。基础款M4芯片，代号Donan，将随MacBook Air系列一同推出；M4 Pro和M4 Max芯片，代号Brava，将随MacBook Pro系列推出；M4 Ultra则将随Mac Studio推出。此外，苹果预计今年将对其大部分Mac产品线进行内部升级，可能包括设计上的调整。

即将问世的M4芯片生产工作正在进行中，升级后的处理器还将包含其他改进，如最高端版本支持512GB统一内存。该芯片将采用台积电的3nm工艺制造，与当前M3芯片相同，但性能更优、能效更高。

Apple is heavily invested in bringing AI to its entire product line and its efforts are not solely limited to innovation in software. While iOS 18 will bring a handful of new front-facing utilities to the iPhone, the company is also working to offer AI in its Mac lineup, partly accelerated by improved hardware. The latest suggests that Apple is developing M4 chips for later this year, which will open doors for enhanced AI capabilities on the Mac.
Apple will announce upgraded Macs later this year with its new M4 chips for improved computational and graphical performance, but the enhancements will go way beyond general performance gains. According to prominent analyst Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple will upgrade the Mac lineup with its new M4 chips later this year, which will bolster AI capabilities on the notebooks.
As mentioned earlier, Apple is deeply invested in bringing generative AI technology to its products, including the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, with the iPhone expected to be upgraded with the release of iOS 18 later this year. Gurman states that the M4 chip will be released later this year on various Macs, and we suspect that Apple will see fit to launch the upgraded models of the MacBook Pro in the last quarter of 2024, similar to last year.
While performance and efficiency gains are a welcome addition, the main element of the chip will be the improved Neural Engine with a higher core count for better AI processing capabilities. The company plans to “highlight the AI processing capabilities of the components and how they’ll integrate with the next version of macOS.” This means that macOS and the M4 chip will work hand-in-hand for seamless AI processing.
Internally, Apple is testing three variants of the M4 chip, which will be part of the company's MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac Studio line. The base M4 chip, code-named Donan, will be available with the MacBook Air lineup, the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips, code-named Brava will be available with the MacBook Pro, and the M4 Ultra will be available with the Mac Studio. The company is also expected to upgrade most of its Mac lineup this year with upgraded internals and possibly tweaks in design.
The production of the forthcoming M4 chips is underway, and the upgraded processor will house additional improvements as well, such as support for 512GB of unified memory for the highest-end variant. The chip will be fabricated using TSMC's 3nm process, the same as the current M3 chip, but with improved performance and enhanced efficiency. We will share more details on the subject as soon as further information is available.