Apple's M6 Chip Strategy May Skip Pro/Max, Focus on AI-Centric M7 Chips

Apple may be changing up more than its prices. According to the latest report from Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, the tech company's silicon strategy could also look different next year. His sources claim that Apple will not release Pro or Max versions of its upcoming M6 chip. If this does come to pass, it would be the first time Apple has only offered a base version of its in-house silicon.

Instead of offering more powerful M6s, Gurman writes that Apple would leap ahead to the M7 generation. Those chips reportedly will be designed to center on powering artificial intelligence. AI and Siri were the key talking points during the WWDC keynote this year, so its not surprising that Apple would continue to emphasize on-device AI in the next generation of hardware.

In skipping the more powerful versions of the M6, Apple could release the M7 during the first half of 2027. It would potentially be followed by M7 Max and Pro chips at the end of 2027. Apple hasn't released an Ultra model since the M3 generation, but according to Gurman, we could see an M7 Ultra arriving in 2028.