The M4 chip, expected in MacBooks by late 2024, is faster than current AI PC processors and allows the MacBook Pro to perform up to 38 trillion operations per second with a 16-core Neural Engine. Expected to launch at a base price of $1,599, the M4 MacBook Pro will hopefully bring significant upgrades without a price increase.

The news comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who briefly mentioned the M4 chip during a Q&A section. According to Gurman, Apple has “just begun formal development” of a new MacBook Pro powered by the M4 chip, which is yet to see the light of day.

Gurman states that Apple plans to release M4 MacBook Pro models later this year. Apple could ship in the fall of 2024, which would be about a year after the M3-series MacBook Pro was released. Gurman warns that the plans could change–whether he meant they could ship earlier or later, he doesn’t say.

Apple built the M3 chip on a new 3-nanometer process, and we are not expecting a node change for the M4. It too is a 3-nanometer chip, though TSMC has made improvements to make it faster and more efficient. Apple could be planning to boost the base RAM for the upcoming M4 MacBook Pro Models, starting them with 16GB RAM instead of 8GB.

In his Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reiterates that new Mac models with the M4 chip are still on track to launch later this year, although there is one interesting new detail. Gurman also adds that MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro will receive their M4 updates in 2025.