- Apple’s M6 MacBook Pro is due to launch this year
- But a report claims it won’t be joined by the M6 Pro and M6 Max
- Instead, Apple’s next pro chips will be the M7 Pro and M7 Max in 2027
Apple has just announced massive price rises across the board, with the company’s MacBook range affected particularly badly. That makes it tough if you’re thinking of upgrading, but a new report has thrown a fresh spanner into the works.
As per an article from Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman, it looks as though Apple might decide to completely skip the high-end M6 Pro and M6 Max chips from its MacBook Pro laptops this year. That will leave the M6 chip as the sole entry in its generation, with no pro-grade options at all.
Instead, Gurman believes Apple’s next Pro and Max chips won’t arrive until the M7 line touches down in 2027. Given that Apple often launches new Macs in the fall, that could mean you’re waiting over a year for new top-tier chips.
That complicates the process if you want to get a new MacBook Pro equipped with Pro or Max chips. Apple’s latest entries — the M5 Pro and M5 Max — were launched in spring 2026, potentially making for an 18-month gap between professional chips. That’s a long time to wait.
And if you’re in the hunt for the MacBook Ultra — Apple’s rumored flagship MacBook Pro that will supposedly come with a touchscreen OLED display and a thinner design — Gurman doesn’t mention that at all, although he has previously said it’ll come in early 2027.
Other rumors had pegged the MacBook Ultra for a release date this fall. But with the M6 Pro and M6 Max chips potentially missing in action, the betting is that it will either come with Apple’s M5 Ultra chip this year or will be delayed until the M7 series. Right now, it’s unclear which route is most likely — although supply chain rumors suggest the OLED MacBook “will be produced starting next month”.
A frustrating wait
If you’re thinking of getting a new MacBook Pro, the impact of Apple’s decision will depend on what you’re looking for. After all, if you’re most interested in the entry-level M6 chip, that’s apparently coming out as per the usual fall timeframe. That said, you’ll need to pay Apple’s increased prices, which see $300 / £300 / AU$500 added to the baseline MacBook Pro’s asking price, taking it up to a $1,999 / £1,999 / AU$3,199 starting point.
If, on the other hand, the M6 Pro or M6 Max chips are more to your taste, you’ll have the double-whammy of a delayed launch and a higher price to contend with. That could complicate your upgrade plans, as you’ll have to both wait longer and have more money saved before pulling the trigger.
Apple has remained silent on the reasoning for this delay — or whether it’s even happening at all — but Gurman cites “people with knowledge of the matter” who say that artificial intelligence (AI) is the main factor. According to Gurman, Apple is making the move to “fast-track technologies that it originally planned to release later. The change should help meet growing demand for on-device AI capabilities and more graphics-intensive software.”
We don’t yet know what those unnamed technologies are, but Apple evidently feels that it’s best to wait until they’re ready for its pro users. That might make a degree of sense, but it means a frustrating wait for anyone who wants more than the base-level chips inside their next MacBook Pro.
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