When consumers will see the debut of M5-based devices from Apple is coming into focus, and the shift will likely start with Apple's MacBook Pro lineup.
A new report from Bloomberg suggests that Apple will start releasing Macs with the M5 processor beginning in the fall of 2025. Ahead of that, the company is expected to launch M4-based MacBook Air models as soon as March, followed by M4 updates to the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.
Those latter products seem likely to be announced around the time of Apple's WWDC event in June. Following that event, the transition to the M5 chip will likely begin in the fall.
Also according to the report, the M5 will come to new MacBook Pro models expected in the fall of 2025. The last two MacBook Pro updates have been in the October and November timeframe, so the timing works out.
The M5 is expected to come to the iPad Pro sometime in late 2025 or early 2026.
Other Mac models are likely receive the M5 updates as part of their normal release cycles. This would make the Mac mini and iMac possible to see M5 upgrades before the end of 2025.
The Mac-first emphasis marks a change from the way the M4 cycle was handled, with that chip first debuting in the iPad Pro before coming to the Mac lineup. The M5 is also likely to power the next revision of the Apple Vision Pro.
12 Comments
Let's HOPE the M4 Mac Studios arrive BEFORE the M5 starts shipping!
The article says that M4 Mac Studios should arrive before the M5 arrives in the fall, so I think it's safe to say that they will show up in the spring or summer.
So far, no one has uncovered any evidence of M3 or M4 having interconnects. M1 and M2 had them which are built for Ultra.
So, either we will have M4 Ultra as a monolithic die or we may have M5 with interconnects which in that case, it may be later than we hope for.
How about the Mac Studio gets M5 chips before anything else?!
In light of what’s going on in the world of AI (DeepSeek)? It would be tragic if Apple couldn’t get the M4 Ultra or the M5 Ultra out the door by WWDC 2025 or at the least before the back to school rush starting around mid August.
I am hopeful that Apple has redesigned the Ultra, Mac Pro and added a possible new Mac server to go into future for the next five or six years. I hope that is the reason for the delay the possibilities with AI is only going to accelerate, particularly at the desktop local level.