{"slug": "apple-skips-its-high-end-m6-chips-for-an-ai-first-m7", "title": "Apple skips its high-end M6 chips for an AI-first M7", "summary": "Apple will skip high-end M6 Pro and Max chips, leapfrogging to an AI-focused M7 line in 2027 to prioritize on-device AI processing. The base M6 chip, arriving as early as 2025 for entry-level Macs, offers improved memory bandwidth and neural engine, but Pro users face a wait until 2027-2028 for faster silicon. The shift breaks Apple's pattern since 2020 and comes amid industry chip shortages and rising costs.", "body_md": "*Apple is breaking its own playbook. It will skip the high-end versions of its M6 chip and leap to an AI-focused M7 line. Apple M7 chips, not the M6, will power its best Macs from 2027.*\n\nApple has changed how it rolls out Mac chips, and the shift is bigger than it sounds. The company will release a base M6 processor as early as this year for entry-level Macs. For the first time, though, it will not make Pro or Max versions of that chip.\n\nThose higher-end parts will instead arrive in 2027 as part of a new M7 generation, [Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-06-25/apple-to-skip-high-end-m6-mac-chips-to-launch-m7-pro-m7-max-m7-ultra-instead) reported, citing people familiar with the plans. Apple, currently on its M5 series, declined to comment.\n\nThe change matters because it breaks a pattern Apple has held since 2020. Every family from M1 to M5 shipped with Pro and Max variants. The M1, M2 and M3 even gained a top-tier Ultra. An M-series generation with only a base chip is a first.\n\nThe split matters because of which machines use which chip. Apple’s Pro and Max parts drive its high-end Mac minis, Mac Studios and MacBook Pros. The base chips power entry-level MacBook Pros, cheaper Mac minis and iMacs, plus some iPad Pro and iPad Air models. Skipping the high-end M6, then, holds back Apple’s most demanding computers, not its cheapest.\n\n## Why Apple is leapfrogging\n\nThe official logic is speed. Apple wants to fast-track technology it had planned for later. The aim is to meet demand for [on-device AI](https://thenextweb.com/news/apple-investors-are-running-out-of-patience-with-its-ai-promises) and heavier graphics work. The M7 line, the people said, is built primarily around on-device AI processing.\n\nThere is a less flattering reading, too. The whole industry is wrestling with a chip and [memory shortage](https://thenextweb.com/news/chinese-dram-cxmt-corsair-ddr5-memory-prices) that has pushed up costs, squeezed margins and forced delays. Apple [raised prices](https://thenextweb.com/news/apple-mac-mini-price-dram-ai-shortage) on every current Mac and iPad on the same day this roadmap leaked. A tidy “AI fast-track” story is also a convenient frame for a roadmap reshaped by scarcity.\n\n## What the M6 actually brings\n\nThe base M6 is no minor update. Apple has tested it in a refreshed entry-level MacBook Pro, code-named J804, and built it to lead its class. Internally, the chip goes by Komodo. The headline gain is memory bandwidth, a measure of how fast a chip moves data, which matters more than ever for AI.\n\nThe M6 is set to reach about 200GB/s, up from roughly 153GB/s on the M5. It pairs that with a new memory architecture, an upgraded neural engine for AI tasks, and faster cores across the board. A redesigned graphics processor adds up to 12 cores, two more than the M5, to juggle AI and rendering at once.\n\n## The long wait for Pro power\n\nThe catch is timing. Apple plans the base M7 as early as the first half of 2027. The M7 Pro and Max could follow as late as the end of that year. The M7 Ultra, the chip behind the most powerful Mac Studio, is not due until 2028. The base M7 is slated for about 240GB/s of bandwidth.\n\nSo anyone who wants Apple’s fastest silicon faces a real wait. A buyer eyeing a top MacBook Pro or Mac Studio has two options. Settle for an M5-era machine, or hold out well into 2027, and to 2028 for the Ultra.\n\nOne stopgap remains. Apple still plans an M5 Ultra. It should arrive as early as this year in a new Mac Studio, one that slipped because of supply and cost pressure. The chip is no slouch, with around 36 processing cores and 80 graphics cores. Apple has tested it with up to 768GB of memory. Yet the squeeze is real. Apple has cut new orders of the existing M3 Ultra Mac Studio from 512GB to just 96GB.\n\n## A bet on in-house AI silicon\n\nThe reshuffle lands at a sensitive moment. Apple’s chips are its sharpest edge over rivals that lean on [Intel and Qualcomm](https://thenextweb.com/news/tenstorrent-intel-qualcomm-takeover-jim-keller-risc-v). The silicon team now reports to Johny Srouji, newly promoted to chief hardware officer. John Ternus, meanwhile, is moving toward the chief executive role.\n\nThe Mac is only part of it. Apple is also said to be moving iPhone chips to a 2-nanometre process. Fresh silicon is coming for a foldable phone due this year, and for 20th-anniversary iPhones in 2027. Designing its own [chips](https://thenextweb.com/news/google-inference-chips-nvidia-challenge-supply-chain) remains the company’s core advantage, which is exactly why a roadmap this scrambled is worth watching.\n\nThe throughline is AI. Apple is rebuilding its chip plan around on-device intelligence. It is doing so while a shortage reshapes what it can ship, and when. Whether that leaves Pro users patient or frustrated is the question the next two years will settle.\n\n## Get the TNW newsletter\n\nGet the most important tech news in your inbox each week.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-skips-its-high-end-m6-chips-for-an-ai-first-m7", "canonical_source": "https://thenextweb.com/news/apple-m7-chips-skips-m6", "published_at": "2026-06-26 15:32:37+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-06-26 16:36:39.031844+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "ai-chips", "ai-products", "ai-infrastructure", "ai-research"], "entities": ["Apple", "M6", "M7", "M5", "Bloomberg", "MacBook Pro", "Mac Studio", "Qualcomm"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-skips-its-high-end-m6-chips-for-an-ai-first-m7", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-skips-its-high-end-m6-chips-for-an-ai-first-m7.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-skips-its-high-end-m6-chips-for-an-ai-first-m7.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/apple-skips-its-high-end-m6-chips-for-an-ai-first-m7.jsonld"}}