Apple to skip high-end M6 Mac chips in favor of AI-focused M7 line

Apple is preparing one of the biggest changes to its Mac chip strategy in years: the company will skip high-end versions of its next-generation M6 processor and move straight to an artificial intelligence-focused M7 line for its most powerful Macs, Bloomberg reported on June 25, citing people with knowledge of the matter.

What is changing

Apple currently ships Macs with chips from its M5 series. According to the report, the company still intends to introduce a base M6 processor as early as this year for entry-level Macs. But for the first time in the history of its silicon roadmap, that chip will not be followed by higher-end variants.

Instead, the top of the lineup is expected to be filled by the M7 Pro, M7 Max and M7 Ultra — a generation the report describes as focused on artificial intelligence workloads.

The people who described the plans asked not to be identified because the roadmap is private. Apple has not publicly announced the change.

Why it matters

Apple's chip generations define what buyers can expect at each price point, and the company has refreshed the family at a steady rhythm since introducing the first M1 chip in 2020. Skipping the high-end M6 parts means the biggest gains for professional Macs will arrive with the M7 generation rather than in the next update cycle.

The report also underlines how much of the industry's roadmap is now shaped by AI: chipmakers are increasingly optimising silicon for inference, training and on-device AI features rather than for general-purpose performance alone.

What is still unknown

Details such as the specific technologies inside the AI-focused M7 line, performance targets and launch dates have not been disclosed. The report, by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, describes the shift as one of the biggest-ever changes to Apple's Mac silicon strategy.