Apple’s M4 chip launched on the iPad Pro but is coming to Macs soon. How big of an upgrade will it really be?
With the launch of the latest iMac, Apple has just announced new Macs equipped with its latest M4 chip, bringing more powerful performance and extra features to its computers. But this won’t be the first time the M4 has made an appearance — it’s already out in the latest iPad Pro.
Is the M4 chip any good? Should you upgrade your Mac or iPad to take advantage of it? And what new features will it bring to your devices? We’ve set out to answer these questions and more, blending together what we’ve learned from the M4 iMac and iPad Pro and information that has been leaked from elsewhere. That should give you everything you need to know about Apple’s latest chip.Price and release date
Apple has opted for something of a staggered approach for the M4 chip’s launch. Unlike most years, where Apple first releases its new chips in Mac computers, this time the company opted to put the M4 chip in the iPad Pro first, which arrived in May 2024.
As for Macs equipped with the M4 chip, those have already started rolling out in the form of the M4 iMac, with the MacBook Pro and Mac mini expected imminently. Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman has claimed these computers will go on sale on or around November 1, which is just days away now.
That’s not the end of the M4 releases, though. The MacBook Air is due out in early 2025, with the Mac Studio and Mac Pro following later in the year. The MacBook Air will almost certainly be limited to the M4, while the Mac Studio and Mac Pro will come with more powerful variants (such as the M4 Max or M4 Ultra).
As for the price of the M4 Macs, it’s possible Apple will keep things as they are. The iMac’s starting price hasn’t increased from $1,299, despite the new M4 model featuring a Thunderbolt 4 upgrade, a better camera, new colors, and a nano-texture glass option in addition to the improved M4 chip. That means Apple could opt to keep prices the same for the M4 MacBook Pro and Mac mini, too.
That said, we wouldn’t rule out price increases for some M4 Macs as well. When Apple launched the M4 iPad Pro, it increased the price of both the larger and smaller models by $200 each. Granted, it changed other things (such as doubling the starting storage and introducing a new Tandem OLED display) that would have contributed to the price, but the fact remains that the cost to the consumer went up. That means we might end up seeing a similar price hike when the M4 chip comes to the rest of the Mac line.
