Apple Preparing M4 Chips with AI Capabilities to Fight Declining Mac Sales

[AleksandarK]

While everyone has been focused on shipping an AI-enhanced product recently, one tech giant didn't appear to be bothered- Apple. However, according to Mark Gurman from Bloomberg, Apple is readying an overhaul of its Apple Silicon M-series chips to embed AI processing capabilities at the processor level. As the report indicates, Apple is preparing an update for late 2024 and early 2025 with the M4 series of chips, which will reportedly feature AI processing units similar to those found in other commercial chips. There should be three levels of the M4 series, with the entry-level M4 codenamed Donan, the mid-level M4 chip codenamed Brava, and the high-end M4 chip codenamed Hydra.

Sales of Apple Macs peaked in 2022; the following year was a sharp decline, and sales have continued to be flat since. The new AI PCs for Windows-based systems have been generating hype from all major vendors, hoping to introduce AI features to end users. However, Apple wants to be part of the revolution, and the company has already scheduled the World Wide Developer Conference for June 10th. At WWDC this year, Apple is supposed to show a suite of AI-powered solutions to enable better user experience and increase productivity. With M4 chips getting AI enhancement, the WWDC announcements will get extra hardware accelerations. However, we must wait for the exact announcements before making further assumptions.



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[Hyderz]

So a cpu upgrade might pick up sales?

 

[AleksandarK]

So a cpu upgrade might pick up sales?

"AI" is THE buzzword. Might very well be a great impact on sales.

 

[ZoneDymo]

ok, can someone finally explain what the hell "AI capabilities" or "AI hardware" even is?
For what I know its just calculations, its just stuff google has been doing for years already and otherwise simulation programms.

What the heck is different about the hardware...what does it even mean? is it like an ASIC situation?

 

[Carillon]

ok, can someone finally explain what the hell "AI capabilities" or "AI hardware" even is?
For what I know its just calculations, its just stuff google has been doing for years already and otherwise simulation programms.

What the heck is different about the hardware...what does it even mean? is it like an ASIC situation?

Yes it's an ASIC, you pay for extra silicon real estate that you're not gonna use. It will make collecting your data more energy efficient.

 

[Nater]

I'm waiting for "HD" AI before I buy. Even if it's only 720p AI.

 

[Chrispy_]

Surely the declining Mac sales are a direct result of Apple's limited ecosystem of mostly consumption apps rather than productivity and sky-high pricing for a general user that is finding more and more capability in their phones with each passing year?

I know Apple still have the edge in photo editing and video editing, but the switch to Apple silicon means that their performance advantage (for the eye-watering price tags) is limited to an even narrower range of applications than the already restrictive walled garden.

Three of the most vocal Apple fans here are work defend Macbooks because they're beautiful hardware they can use to access a bash prompt, and I can't argue with that - in fact I strongly agree with them.

 

[rv8000]

Maybe they should stop charging a kidney for 8gb of unified memory and a hunk of metal that will melt your wrists into the keypad.

 

[phanbuey]

Maybe they should stop charging a kidney for 8gb of unified memory and a hunk of metal that will melt your wrists into the keypad.

NO! We're gonna make a CPU with more AI, that's what the people want.

 

[stimpy88]

Oooh that makes buying a soon-to-be-released M3 based iPad a bad idea right now considering the astronomical price Apple are likely to charge for them! Also, iOS/iPadOS 18 as well as macOS are going to be AI heavy...

 

[AnotherReader]

Hasn't Apple included AI inference accelerators since the A11 which was launched over six years ago? As the M series of SOCs are in that lineage, they have NPUs too. So what's new here?

 

[kondamin]

Still don't know anything used by most users that could benefit from anything locally driven other than maybe face tracking for the webcam and cleaning up speech like phones do.

 

[Soul_]

Maybe RAM would help more than AI?

 

[stimpy88]

Hasn't Apple included AI inference accelerators since the A11 which was launched over six years ago? As the M series of SOCs are in that lineage, they have NPUs too. So what's new here?

Probably don't support whatever the precision their AI system will use or is not performant enough. As far as I know, nothing takes advantage of that hardware anyway.

 

[rv8000]

Hasn't Apple included AI inference accelerators since the A11 which was launched over six years ago? As the M series of SOCs are in that lineage, they have NPUs too. So what's new here?

They’re adding additional buzz to the buzzword!

 

[remixedcat]

way better workstations for professionals and lemmie guess apple will add another 600+ to the price or more... and then introduce incremental changes every 6 months and you'll have to get a new macbook every 6 months. this is insane. mac sales are declining because, well it's not attractive anymore. The quality has gone downhill and price has gone uphill. And you can't repair them without allready being well off enough to afford the equipment to do it and money for thier sky high replacement parts prices!! More people are learning how to fix systems themselves bc they can't afford to replace as often as usual... that's why you got framework, dell and asus that are top for repairabilty right now. Framework is awesome!!! fully upgradeable!!!



compare a mac pro to a dell precision that has upgradeability and repairability as well which is way more important for longevity in actual businesses...


or the xps for those that want slick and more mac form factor where the price difference is intense!

 

[Dr. Dro]

Apple, all I'm asking is a Mac mini with a strong GPU configuration and 16 GB of RAM that doesn't cost both of my eyeballs...

 

[remixedcat]

Apple, all I'm asking is a Mac mini with a strong GPU configuration and 16 GB of RAM that doesn't cost both of my eyeballs...

that's too much of an ask for them lol. They wouldn't do it even if steve jobs came back from the dead lol

 

[R0H1T]

What declining sales?

Apple's had a stellar last quarter & their popularity among the sheep's never been better

 

[SSGBryan]

Surely the declining Mac sales are a direct result of Apple's limited ecosystem of mostly consumption apps rather than productivity and sky-high pricing for a general user that is finding more and more capability in their phones with each passing year?

I know Apple still have the edge in photo editing and video editing, but the switch to Apple silicon means that their performance advantage (for the eye-watering price tags) is limited to an even narrower range of applications than the already restrictive walled garden.

Three of the most vocal Apple fans here are work defend Macbooks because they're beautiful hardware they can use to access a bash prompt, and I can't argue with that - in fact I strongly agree with them.

Yes - Apple defines "pro" users as anyone that uses either Final Cut or Logic. Anyone else simply doesn't exist, as far as Timmy is concerned.

For me the 7,1 Mac Pro was the final "FU" moment.

A $1,200 machine with a $4,500 chassis (not including the $400 non-locking wheels). Every single subsystem was obsolete the day it was released. Two years later, Apple cut sling load on every Intel Mac user.

 

[Chrispy_]

Yes - Apple defines "pro" users as anyone that uses either Final Cut or Logic. Anyone else simply doesn't exist, as far as Timmy is concerned.

For me the 7,1 Mac Pro was the final "FU" moment.

A $1,200 machine with a $4,500 chassis (not including the $400 non-locking wheels). Every single subsystem was obsolete the day it was released. Two years later, Apple cut sling load on every Intel Mac user.

Sounds about right. A bunch of Apple users in the office came to me to quote up Threadripper builds around then, too. It was an insult to half their customer base.

 

[Drash]

Want sales ... cut price. Isn't that sales 101?

Still rocking a Mini 2009 as a backup machine and showing my young kids my Macintosh SE HD (2.5 MB RAM, 40 MB SCSI HD) which still works!!! and some of the best games ever - Tetris and Milia Miglia.

 

[Lew Zealand]

What declining sales?

Apple's had a stellar last quarter & their popularity among the sheep's never been better

Clickbait wording about Apple on a Tech website, nothing new. Global PC sales are down from their recent peak in 2021 so referencing declining sales works for every PC maker and then fanboys can add their favorite biases.

 

[BArms]

Lack of x86 compatibility is hurting Apple I think.

 

[Nater]

I've always been disappointed Apple hasn't embraced CAD/CAM/Design/3D Printing. I imagine their chips would excel at the workloads. Macs are literally for the mother-in-law only, just so she's that less likely to get a virus/ransomware/etc.