Apple has been totally absent in the AI battle between tech giants that has unfolded over the past year, leaving many wondering when it would enter the fray. According to a new report, it will officially enter the AI race later this year when it launches its M4 silicon. The launch of its next-generation silicon will bring a new focus on AI performance, where it will compete with x86 PCs and Qualcomm's upcoming Arm SoC for Windows in the battle for AI bragging rights.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple is hoping to reinvent its Mac lineup with M4, which will focus on AI performance for the first time since the M1 launched in 2020. Apple is about to start production on three M4 chips, according to the report, which will launch across its Mac lineup later this year. It's assumed those chips are M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max, which will appear in the iMac, MacBook Pro, and the Mac Mini. Apple launched the M3 just six months ago as the company's first chip to use TSMC's cutting-edge 3nm process, so our guess is that M4 uses an enhanced version of this same process.
The launch of M4 will dovetail with the arrival of a new version of MacOS with expanded AI capabilities, which will be unveiled at WWDC in June. The same goes for the next version of iOS, which always arrives in September with the new iPhones, and it too is expected to focus on AI performance for the first time. It remains to be seen what features Apple will bring to the table, as the report just says the chip is being designed with this in mind, so we expect there to be more focus on its neural engine performance.
Bloomberg reports the M4 is Apple's latest attempt to reverse the trend of flagging Mac sales, which we thought was the goal of both the M2 and M3. Nevertheless, the report states Mac sales peaked in 2022, and were flat last year. The M3 was a big launch for the company, but apparently failed to move the needle given the small performance improvement over M2. With M4 being made on the same process as M3, we doubt it'll offer more than ~15% boost in performance, but perhaps that's why Apple wants to boost neural engine performance for AI applications. Plus, so-called "AI PCs" are expected to arrive later this year, so Apple's timing is prescient at least.
