April 11 (Reuters) - Apple ( AAPL ) is nearing the

production of M4 computer processors which would have AI

processing capabilities and plans to update every Mac model with

it, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday, citing people with

knowledge of the matter.

The company is aiming to release the updated computers late

this year and early next year, and they would include new iMacs,

a low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro, high-end 14-inch and 16-inch

MacBook Pros, and Mac minis, the report said.

PC makers have been in a slump since the end of a

pandemic-era boom in sales for working and learning from home.

The industry has pinned its hopes of a revival on a new

generation of laptops and desktops with more powerful chips that

can handle artificial intelligence tasks such as summarizing

documents without having to send data to the cloud.

Intel ( INTC ) is preparing such chips, as are rivals

including Qualcomm ( QCOM ). Reuters has

reported

that Nvidia also plans to use its strength in AI chips to

jump into the PC market with a new chip as early as 2025.

Apple ( AAPL ) is planning to highlight the AI processing

capabilities of the new chips, and how they'll integrate with

the next version of macOS, according to the Bloomberg report.

Apple ( AAPL ) did not immediately respond to a Reuters request

for comment.

The news comes ahead of Apple's ( AAPL )

annual developers conference

in June, and reports said the iPhone maker could announce

new AI partnership and unveil significant changes to the iOS.

Mac sales fell 27% in Apple's ( AAPL ) most recent fiscal year

ended September. Apple ( AAPL ) in October

unveiled

the current-generation M3 chips and new MacBook Pro and

iMac computers that were getting them.

(Reporting by Yuvraj Malik in Bengaluru, Additional reporting

by Stephen Nellis; Editing by Anil D'Silva and Maju Samuel)