Mac mini M4 could launch at an Apple October event
Apple’s redesigned Mac mini is rumored to be shipping soon, and it could come a month after the iPhone 16
💻 Apple’s redesigned Mac mini is almost here
📦 A report indicates it’ll ship to retailers in the next month
📏 The new Mac mini will be smaller and have five USB-C ports
🚀 The M4 Mac mini, MacBook Pro, and iMac will likely launch in November
Apple is holding its iPhone 16 launch event on September 9, and we’re expecting to see a lot of new products at the show including the Apple Watch Series 10 and AirPods Pro 3. But that won’t wrap up Apple’s announcements for 2024; the company is now rumored to host an event in October where the rumored Mac mini M4 will be announced, alongside other M4-equipped Macs that Apple hasn’t updated yet.
In Mark Gurman’s Power On newsletter, he suggests that Apple will transition the Mac lineup to M4 chips by the second half of 2025. The transition will take place toward the end of this year and extend into the first half of next year, giving them time to roll out all of the new devices. For 2024, Gurman expects the new Mac mini to debut alongside an updated iMac M4 and MacBook Pro M4.
The Mac mini M4 release date is almost here
Gurman says the redesigned Mac mini with an M4 chip will be shipped from suppliers in China to warehouses around the world early in September, with the more powerful M4 Pro Mac mini arriving in October. That means we probably won’t see either of these new computers until October, a month after the iPhone 16 release date on September 20.
This wouldn’t come as a surprise. Apple has hosted numerous October events in past years, most recently last October when the company spent Halloween night talking about the MacBook Pro M3. We’ve been expecting new Macs since Apple announced the iPad Pro with M4 in May, and since 2024 has yet to wrap up, it’s all the more reason for the company to host an October event to talk about some new computers.
It helps that the company will own the spotlight, too. We usually see Google host an event in October, but since the Pixel 9 Pro XL and Pixel Watch 3 have already been announced, it seems that Apple will own the entire month if it decides to host a keynote.
What’s in store for the Mac mini M4
We’ve seen a lot of reporting on the new Mac mini with M4, and Gurman is corroborating a lot of it while adding a few key details you might be wondering about.
The machine is expected to be much smaller than before, resembling the form factor of an Apple TV box but a bit taller than today’s 1.4-inch Mac mini. Gurman notes that there will be five USB-C ports, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack. If you’re keeping track, that’s a total of eight ports, none of which will be USB-A.
You’ll have a choice between the standard M4 chip or an upgraded M4 Pro chip that’ll support more RAM and storage. The power supply for the Mac mini will be built into the aluminum chassis, which means you won’t need to deal with that huge brick attached to the power cord. In addition, the Mac mini’s manufacturing cost will be lower than before since it uses a lot of the same parts as the iPad Pro, although it’s unclear whether the price for consumers will be lowered as a result. The Mac mini currently starts at $599.
MacBook Pro and iMac are getting M4, too
Apple will update the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip by the end of the year, as well as the iMac. A report from MacRumors suggests that those machines, alongside the Mac mini, will launch in November, a number of weeks after they’re unveiled at the suggested October event.
This would make sense given Apple would likely want to get them on the market before Black Friday and the holidays roll around. However, the MacBook Air and Mac Pro don’t seem to be included in that mix, hence Gurman’s prediction that the Mac’s transition to M4 won’t be finished until 2025.