Heh-heh, I thought you meant iMac Plus, since it’s also been ten years since the 5K iMac was introduced!
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Found M4 and M5 Mac identifiers
- Thread starter Jamie I
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'M4 Extreme' Chip Unlikely After Apple 'Cancels' High-Performance Chip [Updated]
Apple this "past summer" canceled the development of a high-performance Mac chip that would have consisted of four smaller chips stitched...
www.macrumors.com
@altaic's M4 list from the other place which he got from diving into firmware which has been confirmed for all but one device (16,9 still unconfirmed but with Macrumors agreeing that 16,12 and 16,13 are the Airs) at this point:
M4 Macs
Mac16,1 MBP 14” M4
Mac16,2 iMac 24” M4 (2-port)
Mac16,3 iMac 24” M4 (4-port)
Mac16,4 DNE
Mac16,5 MBP 16” M4 Max (384b & 512b)
Mac16,6 MBP 14” M4 Max (384b & 512b)
Mac16,7 MBP 16” M4 Pro
Mac16,8 MBP 14” M4 Pro
Mac16,9 Mac Studio M4 Max
Mac16,10 Mac mini M4
Mac16,11 Mac mini M4 Pro
Mac16,12 MBA 13” M4
Mac16,13 MBA 15” M4
If this list is complete (and so far there is no evidence of a 16,14, or 16,15), then there will be no M4 Ultra either. This is actually possible since we have the rumor of the existence of the so-called Hidra die to form the "desktop-only" chip. In contradiction to Gurman's prognostications, the Hidra may not be of the M4 generation. That could make the 17,1 and 17,2 from the OP the Ultra Mac Studio and the Ultra Mac Pro, which will be technically M5 chips.
If this is the case, then prediction is that 3rd party die shots will not show an interconnect on the M4 Max chips. I have not seen any 3rd party die shots of the Max yet.
M4 Macs
Mac16,1 MBP 14” M4
Mac16,2 iMac 24” M4 (2-port)
Mac16,3 iMac 24” M4 (4-port)
Mac16,4 DNE
Mac16,5 MBP 16” M4 Max (384b & 512b)
Mac16,6 MBP 14” M4 Max (384b & 512b)
Mac16,7 MBP 16” M4 Pro
Mac16,8 MBP 14” M4 Pro
Mac16,9 Mac Studio M4 Max
Mac16,10 Mac mini M4
Mac16,11 Mac mini M4 Pro
Mac16,12 MBA 13” M4
Mac16,13 MBA 15” M4
If this list is complete (and so far there is no evidence of a 16,14, or 16,15), then there will be no M4 Ultra either. This is actually possible since we have the rumor of the existence of the so-called Hidra die to form the "desktop-only" chip. In contradiction to Gurman's prognostications, the Hidra may not be of the M4 generation. That could make the 17,1 and 17,2 from the OP the Ultra Mac Studio and the Ultra Mac Pro, which will be technically M5 chips.
If this is the case, then prediction is that 3rd party die shots will not show an interconnect on the M4 Max chips. I have not seen any 3rd party die shots of the Max yet.
Makes sense. If the Mac16,9 identification is correct, have to wonder if a new Studio Display is in the works along with it. If not, that’s going to be a pretty short presentation, even with the Airs.
Then, probably announced at WWDC, the M5 Über and a new Pro Display XDR.
"have to wonder if a new Studio Display is in the works"
Given the general dissatisfaction with the FaceTime camera performance when the OG Studio Display was announced,
and seeing how much of an improvement the M4 iMac camera is, it would seem highly likely that the A13 SoC and camera in the Studio Display would get a refresh.
Whether it gets a new 90Hz panel, as has been rumoured., is an unknown...
Given the general dissatisfaction with the FaceTime camera performance when the OG Studio Display was announced,
and seeing how much of an improvement the M4 iMac camera is, it would seem highly likely that the A13 SoC and camera in the Studio Display would get a refresh.
Whether it gets a new 90Hz panel, as has been rumoured., is an unknown...
With the inclusion of TB5 on the M4 Pro and above, WWDC 2025 would also be prime time to update the now 5-year-old Pro Display XDR with a higher resolution and refresh rate (36" 7k@120?).
They may not do a Spring presentation for the Airs at all - they didn't for the Macs in the fall. That said, I know a lot of people are hoping for a new display and the old one is getting long in the tooth. I agree that the Studio M4 Max and (M4 or M5) Ultra and Mac Pro might not come until WWDC - especially if this M5 idea is correct, the Studio/Pro will more likely be WWDC ... or later.
Just in, kind of confirmed:
A3143 Mac16,9 Mac Studio M4 Max
A3389 Mac15,14 Mac Studio M3 Ultra
A3240 Mac16,12 MBA 13” M4
A3241 Mac16,13 MBA 15” M4
A3143 Mac16,9 Mac Studio M4 Max
A3389 Mac15,14 Mac Studio M3 Ultra
A3240 Mac16,12 MBA 13” M4
A3241 Mac16,13 MBA 15” M4
Seems like it‘s down to either iMac Pro or Mac Pro for Mac17,1 and Mac17,2.
A 6K iMac Pro with the new, forthcoming LG panel in it would fit neatly. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but it does meet the criteria for an early launch (new product + new silicon, similar to last year’s OLED iPad Pro launch), arguably much better than any possible Mac Pro.
Mac Pro would then package an M3 Ultra with the Private Cloud Compute silicon — I don’t think the private/secure Siri delay is about the silicon, so there could be an “M3 Cloud” rack-scale architecture that has been in production for a long time, parallel with the development of the M3 Ultra. In an effort to show Apple is serious about privacy and security in Siri and Apple Intelligence, they feature the PCC silicon at WWDC.
The lesson that has emerged from the Nvidia DGX Station workstation architecture is that it needs a second GPU for video I/O, the Blackwell Ultra doesn’t have it. Apple solves that problem in the Mac Pro workstation with the M3 Ultra, basically a sort of mirror image of Nvidia's approach, a difference that encapsulates where each company is coming from.
A 6K iMac Pro with the new, forthcoming LG panel in it would fit neatly. I wouldn’t hold my breath, but it does meet the criteria for an early launch (new product + new silicon, similar to last year’s OLED iPad Pro launch), arguably much better than any possible Mac Pro.
Mac Pro would then package an M3 Ultra with the Private Cloud Compute silicon — I don’t think the private/secure Siri delay is about the silicon, so there could be an “M3 Cloud” rack-scale architecture that has been in production for a long time, parallel with the development of the M3 Ultra. In an effort to show Apple is serious about privacy and security in Siri and Apple Intelligence, they feature the PCC silicon at WWDC.
The lesson that has emerged from the Nvidia DGX Station workstation architecture is that it needs a second GPU for video I/O, the Blackwell Ultra doesn’t have it. Apple solves that problem in the Mac Pro workstation with the M3 Ultra, basically a sort of mirror image of Nvidia's approach, a difference that encapsulates where each company is coming from.
Aye it's a mess, as far as I can tell, given the full list of devices that leaked (@MarkoPJ copied it before Apple rectified their mistake), there are no more expected M3 Macs. There were two unreleased M2s though! 😵💫
So if 17,1 and 17,2 aren't Mac Pro variants, it doesn't seem like the Mac Pro is getting M3s either. Also the rumors (which could be wrong) keep pushing the date for the iMac Pro back. So I'm leaning slightly towards Mac Pros still BUT I admit that M5 iMac Pros would fit here too and it just isn't clear what if anything is happening with the Mac Pro.
M3 products are 15,X - M4 products are 16,X - stands to reason that the 17,X products are of the M5 variant...?
- 17,1 = M5 Extreme Mac Pro Tower / Rackmount
- 17,2 = M5 Extreme Mac Pro Cube
- ;^p
iMac Pro is extremely unlikely, if there is a panel shipment imminent, pretty much anyone and their mom in the supply chain would have known it and leaked it. So far all the larger screen iMac rumors, and the next gen XDR / ASD rumors all surround on prototype / pre-production testing units that don't necessarily turn into real products.
And then with how "complete" the Mac line right now is, the only Mac model that lags behind M3 or older is the Mac Pro. Though if it gets an update soon the silicon probably isn't M5 based, and if it is really M5 based it cannot be updated soon? (before some Macs getting it first, at least the MBP)
And then with how "complete" the Mac line right now is, the only Mac model that lags behind M3 or older is the Mac Pro. Though if it gets an update soon the silicon probably isn't M5 based, and if it is really M5 based it cannot be updated soon? (before some Macs getting it first, at least the MBP)
There were two unreleased M2s though!
Maybe the M2 iMacs? Was a bit weird they never released those in a gen where *everything else* got updated.