MacBook Pro, iMac to get the M4 upgrade later this year followed by MacBook Air in spring of 2025, claims reliable tipster

Ever since the Apple M4-powered OLED iPad Pro lineup arrived, Apple Silicon aficionados have been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the M4 SoC on the Mac lineup. The M4 was undeniably a major leap forward in both compute and graphics performance - leapfrogging the M3 by almost 25% and 15% respectively. We can only expect the performance to improve as the M4 makes its way into desktop Macs with more reasonable thermal envelopes than the absurdly thin iPad Pro, but that remains to be seen.

According to his most recent PowerOn newsletter, Mark Gurman has reiterated his M4-based Macs' launch timeline expectations yet again. As per his sources, which have been pretty accurate in the past, we should expect the M4 to first arrive in the updated iMac 24" (currently $1,199 on Amazon) and the MacBook Pro line-up. The low-end MacBook Pro and the iMac will most likely sport the vanilla M4, while the higher-end versions of the MacBook Pro will get the Pro and Max versions of the M4 SoC, which is typical of Apple tradition. Both these devices are expected to hit the shelves sometime towards the end of this year, or maybe even in early 2025 at the latest.

The MacBook Air will be next in line for the M4 treatment, which is rumored to arrive sometime during the spring of next year. Finally, Apple's highest-end Macs - the Mac Pro and the Mac Studio - will be updated with the new silicon in the second half of 2025. It is possible that the Mac Pro might make its debut in WWDC 25 with a shipping date of late 2025, as that is when Apple generally prefers to unveil its highest-end Mac. The Mac Studio might also be revealed around the same time, but that is yet to be seen.

Interestingly, however, if Apple sticks to a one-year update cycle for M-series chips, it is possible that the M5 might make its debut at WWDC 25. Should this happen, it will be interesting to see whether the Mac Pro and Studio get the higher-tier versions of the M4 chip or make the jump directly to the M5 series. Alternatively, Apple might also release the Mac Pro and Mac Studio with the M4 silicon first and later unveil the next-generation M5 series in Q3 of next year, but only time will reveal what's cooking at Cupertino.