Apple reportedly skipping M6 Pro and M6 Max for AI-focused M7 chips

Apple is reportedly changing its Mac silicon roadmap by skipping the M6 Pro and M6 Max generation.

Apple M6: change of plans

According to Bloomberg, Apple still plans to launch a base M6 chip as early as this year. However, higher-end Pro and Max variants are not planned. Instead, Apple is expected to move those tiers to the M7 generation in 2027.

The base M6 chip is reportedly being tested in an entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro. The chip is internally known as Komodo or H18G . It is expected to improve memory bandwidth to around 200 GB/s, compared with around 153 GB/s on the M5.

The company, currently on its M5 series, plans to debut a base M6 processor as early as this year for entry-level Macs, according to people with knowledge of the matter. But in a first, the company will skip higher-end versions of that chip, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.

— Bloomberg

Bloomberg also reports that M6 will include an updated memory architecture, a new Neural Engine and GPU changes. Apple has reportedly tested configurations with up to 12 GPU cores, up from 10 cores on the base M5.

Apple M7 and M5 Ultra

The M7 generation is expected to place a stronger focus on on-device AI processing. The base M7, reportedly known as Delos or H19G, may arrive in the first half of 2027 with around 240 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Apple is also said to be preparing M7 Pro, M7 Max and M7 Ultra chips under the Andros name. M7 Pro and M7 Max are reportedly planned for late 2027, while M7 Ultra is expected in 2028.

Before that, Apple may still release one more M5 chip. Bloomberg claims that M5 Ultra is planned for a new Mac Studio and could feature around 36 CPU cores and 80 GPU cores. Apple has also reportedly tested support for up to 768GB of memory, although supply constraints may affect the final configuration.

Source: Bloomberg

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