Apple Skips M6 Pro and Max, Jumping Straight to M7 in 2027
What You Need to Know
- Apple canceled M6 Pro and M7 Max chips entirely, skipping a generation for first time.
- M7 chips delayed to late 2027 because they’re being built specifically for on-device AI workloads.
- M6 arriving late 2026 will feature 200GB/s memory bandwidth and redesigned GPU with up to 12 cores.
- M5 Ultra expected this year with 36 CPU cores, 80 GPU cores, and up to 768GB memory.
Apple’s chip roadmap is getting reshuffled, and the most telling detail is not the acceleration but what is being skipped. The company has canceled the M6 Pro and M6 Max entirely, meaning for the first time since the Apple silicon transition began, a chip generation will ship without higher-end variants. The Pro and Max tiers will jump straight to M7, expected in late 2027.
The reason, according to Bloomberg, is that M7 chips are being built specifically around on-device AI and GPU-intensive workloads. Apple is apparently willing to leave a gap in its lineup rather than ship mid-tier chips that would be obsolete before the architecture it actually wants is ready. The M6, landing as soon as late 2026, will still bring meaningful upgrades: around 200GB/s memory bandwidth (up from 153GB/s on M5), a redesigned GPU with up to 12 cores, an updated Neural Engine, and a new memory architecture. Prior reporting has suggested it will be the first chip built on a 2-nanometer process.
A Compressed Window for High-End Macs
The M5 Ultra is also expected this year, with approximately 36 CPU cores, 80 GPU cores, and up to 768GB of unified memory in a refreshed Mac Studio. That machine and the Gemini app, which requires Apple Silicon to run on macOS, illustrate how quickly on-device AI has become a real hardware constraint rather than a marketing footnote.
The timeline creates an awkward situation for the rumored high-end MacBook Ultra with an OLED display and touchscreen. That machine was floated for late 2026, but with M7 Pro and M7 Max chips not arriving until late 2027, Apple would have to equip it with an M6, M5 Max, or M5 Ultra to hit that window, none of which are obvious fits for a flagship laptop. iPad Pro and iPad Air models are also expected to use the base M6.
All of this lands immediately after Apple raised prices across its Mac lineup, which means customers buying high-end Macs now are doing so knowing that the AI-focused silicon generation is still two years out.
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