Apple is reportedly rethinking how it builds the brains of its highest-end Macs. According to a report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company plans to skip the higher-end versions of its next chip generation — the M6 Pro and M6 Max — and jump straight to a new M7 lineup.
Gurman reports that these next Pro and Max chips will arrive in 2027 as part of that M7 family, and that the central goal of the shift is to boost on-device AI capabilities. In other words, Apple wants its priciest laptops and desktops to run artificial intelligence features directly on the machine, rather than leaning on distant data centers.
Bloomberg characterizes the move as one of the biggest-ever changes to Apple's Mac silicon strategy. Since Apple began designing its own Mac processors, it has marched through numbered generations in a fairly predictable cadence; quietly retiring a planned tier of chips in favor of leapfrogging ahead would mark a notable break from that pattern.
The report was picked up widely, with outlets including AppleInsider, MacRumors, Engadget, Seeking Alpha and GSMArena all summarizing the same core claim that Apple will forgo the high-end M6 parts in favor of the AI-focused M7 line.
It's worth stressing that this is based on sources cited by Gurman, not an official Apple announcement, and the timeline points to 2027 — meaning plans could still shift.
Why it matters: the reported pivot signals that Apple sees on-device AI, not raw generational chip upgrades, as the feature that will define its next wave of premium computers.