Apple is preparing a decision that will enrage Macbook owners

That’s the direction Apple is going with its M-series of čchips, judging by the latest rumors released by the famous zviždač Mark Gurman. In last week’s edition of his newsletter Power On for Bloomberg, Gurman presented a bunch of fresh information about Apple’s processor plan and the upcoming M6, M7 and M8 chips.

Skipping a generation for artificial intelligence

Gurman tells us – and mind you, these are all just rumors, but still eye-opening speculation – that Apple is doing something very different with the next generation of M čips. The M6 ​​will only consist of the base model, with no more powerful variants, which is something Apple has never done before; there have always been Pro and Max versions (if not Ultra).

The reason for this, it seems, is that Apple wants to quickly introduce the M7 series, whereby the M6 ​​would debut at the end of this year, and the M7 would follow in the first half of 2027, just six months later. The M7 will have a full line-up of Pro, Max and Ultra chips, with the first two arriving at the end of 2027, and the Ultra during 2028. Gurman believes this is Apple’s current plan, and the reason for the M7 rush is artificial intelligence.

It will no doubt cause many sighs. Gurman theorizes: “The reason for this break with tradition: AI. Apple planned major neural processing upgrades for the M7 family and ultimately decided those improvements were important enough to justify accelerating the next generation instead of completing the M6 ​​line.”

It further states that Apple, in addition to this, is “further developing M8 chips with even greater AI capabilities” which should arrive in 2028. Gurman concludes: “The bottom line is that AI is no longer just another feature that Apple’s chips need to support. It is now shaping how those products are designed and when they ship.”

Is that the smart way to go?

So what is it that concerns us here? There’s clearly a strong indication that artificial intelligence is taking a much more central role in Macs, and given what’s happening with MacBooks right now, I have to wonder about the wisdom of that – and how it might affect Apple’s computer sales.

Currently, Mac sales are strong and boosted significantly by the launch of the MacBook Neo in March 2026, a budget notebook that is sure to sell out. However, recent price hikes have somewhat cooled those sales prospects, hitting even the MacBook Neo, which went up by US$100.

While it’s surprising that a device would receive such a price hike so soon after launch, given the demand for the Neo, it won’t be overlooked for this increase. Sharper price hikes on the MacBook Air are hard to accept, and as we pointed out a few weeks ago, some affordable Windows 11 notebooks are now looking a lot more enticing after Apple’s price hikes.

Looking around Reddit, it’s not hard to find a lot of dissatisfaction with the MacBook price hike. There is significant anxiety among some people who have considered buying a new Apple laptop, then watched the prices rise and now feel the opposite of buyer’s remorse. Some of these people act on their wallets, closing them and promising to wait for a better buying opportunity.

RAM crisis and immersion in AI

It could be a long wait. We’ve been getting a lot of gloomy news lately about the RAM crisis getting worse later this year and in 2027 – maybe much worse. The memory supply situation is, of course, what forced Apple to raise the price of Macs, and it’s hard to see how the manufacturerđač MacBook will continue to weather this storm if it worsens next year, given that its resources in terms of stored RAM (or SSDs) are clearly running out.

I don’t think any of this bodes well for Mac sales next year, given the pressure around new price increases. And then we come back to this apparent renewed focus on artificial intelligence, which has not been well received on Reddit and other social networks.

Here’s a Reddit user who sums it all up nicely: “I was about to buy a new MacBook to replace my M1 Pro with a weak battery and low storage. But then Apple raised the prices by almost 20 percent. And now they’re diving headlong into AI. Guess it’s time to look at Framework laptops.”

Currently, there is strong resistance to artificial intelligence, whether it is about huge data centers that consume huge amounts of energy, or about Copilot in Windows 11, and even Apple Intelligence. So it’s no surprise that the idea of ​​a “plunge into AI” has been met with a lot of skepticism. The problem is that it all seems very uncertain, and Apple is reportedly now building its Mac strategy around it. It seems like a leap into the unknown, to say the least, and it doesn’t surprise me that it makes Mac fans nervous.