Apple Skipping M6 Pro and Max, Jumping Straight to M7 in 2027

Apple is making one of the most dramatic shifts in its custom silicon strategy to date. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the company plans to skip the higher-end M6 Pro and M6 Max chips entirely.

Instead, Apple will jump straight to the M7 lineup for its Pro and Max variants, targeting a 2027 launch. The standard M6 chip is still expected to arrive on schedule, but the beefier versions are getting axed from the roadmap.

The reason? AI. Apple wants the Pro and Max chips to ship with significantly boosted on-device AI capabilities, and apparently the M6 architecture wasn't going to cut it. By leapfrogging to M7, Apple aims to deliver a meaningful jump in local AI processing power for its Mac lineup.

It's a bold bet — skipping an entire generation of high-end chips to make a bigger splash with the next one.