Apple's M7 Ultra Targets 1.5TB RAM; M8 Slated for 2028
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- Apple is taping out the M7 chip with major NPU upgrades, with an M7 Pro, M7 Max, M7 Ultra, and M8 all on the roadmap for delivery into 2028, per Mark Gurman's Power On newsletter at Bloomberg
- The M7 Ultra is designed to support up to 1.5TB of unified memory—double the capacity planned for the M5 Ultra and a match for the 2019 Mac Pro, though Gurman notes the actual configuration depends on the memory market
- Apple is reportedly skipping M6 Pro and M6 Max chips to push AI-focused silicon out faster, per MacRumors and iPhone in Canada coverage
- New Apple Pencils debuting spring 2027 will include an updated Apple Pencil Pro and a low-end USB-C model, launching alongside the next iPad Pros
- The redesigned Pencils will ship with user-replaceable batteries, a shift Wccftech, AppleInsider, and others attribute in part to EU regulatory pressure
- The Verge frames Apple's AI chip surge as a direct legacy of its canceled self-driving car program, which produced powerful neural silicon now feeding the Mac roadmap
- Digital Trends positions the M7 Ultra as a potential Nvidia Blackwell competitor, citing its 1.5TB memory ceiling
Why it matters: Sizing the M7 Ultra at 1.5TB of unified memory—double the M5 Ultra—shows Apple designing silicon for on-device AI workloads large enough to encroach on Nvidia's data-center Blackwell territory. By skipping M6 Pro and M6 Max tiers to rush the AI-focused lineup, Apple is trading near-term SKU breadth for faster delivery of the chips its Mac and iPad Pro lines will lean on through 2028.
