Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo today outlined mass production timing for the M5 series of chips, which he expects to be used in both future Macs and Apple Intelligence servers. The rollout will likely begin next year.
Kuo expects the standard M5 chip to enter mass production in the first half of 2025, followed by the M5 Pro and M5 Max chips in the second half of the year. Then, he expects the M5 Ultra chip to enter mass production in 2026.
So, nothing too surprising.
The timeframes suggest that M5 Macs will launch in a similar order as M4 Macs. Apple will likely update the MacBook Pro lineup with M5 series chips in October next year, and the MacBook Air should receive the M5 chip in the first half of 2026. Apple is likely to update the Mac Studio and Mac Pro later in 2026, or in 2027. It is unclear if the iMac and Mac mini will be updated next year, as those models are not always updated annually.
M4 Macs have rolled out in a similar manner so far. Apple updated the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini with the M4 series of chips in October, and the MacBook Air is expected to be updated by the end of March next year. Mac Studio and Mac Pro models with M4 Max and/or M4 Ultra chips are expected to launch in mid-to-late 2025.
As previously rumored, Kuo said M5 series chips will be manufactured with TSMC’s third-generation 3nm process, known as N3P. That will result in the usual year-over-year performance and power efficiency improvements over the M4 series of chips.
Apple Intelligence servers are currently powered by the M2 Ultra chip, and they are expected to start using M4 series chips next year. Beyond that, Kuo said Apple will eventually switch to high-end, server-grade M5 chips that are better suited for artificial intelligence inferencing. He said these chips will also be manufactured with the N3P process, offer improved thermal performance, and have a separated CPU and GPU design.
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