All the news from Apple’s ‘week’ of Mac announcements
Image: Cath Virginia / The VergeApple’s unusual approach to an October event is skipping the event and just announcing some forthcoming announcements. Continue reading…
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New Macs are coming. Apple has teased a “week” of announcements around the Mac starting on Monday, October 28th. And after months of leaks, we have a pretty good idea of what’s in the cards.
Apple is likely to overhaul much of its Mac line with M4 chips, after launching the M4 series in the iPad Pro back in May. The MacBook Pro and iMac are expected to get spec bumps featuring the chip, while the Mac Mini is reported to be in line for a full redesign — its first in over a decade. Alongside the new Macs, a refreshed Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad with USB-C ports are likely to arrive, too.
The public release of Apple Intelligence is also expected this week. That would bring AI features to the Mac as well as the iPhone and iPad.
There’s no formal product event this time around. Instead, it’s likely Apple will share the news through press releases each morning. The only question now is whether they’ll come all at once on Monday or be spaced out throughout the full week.
What to expect from Apple’s ‘week’ of Mac announcements
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Another round of Apple devices is about to arrive. After launching new iPhones, Apple Watches, and AirPods in September and a new iPad earlier this month, Apple is now gearing up to launch updated Macs. After weeks of rumors and speculation, Apple SVP Greg Joswiak came out and directly teased the arrival of new computers to be announced during the final week of October.
We’re expecting a fresh round of chip upgrades, at least one redesign, and maybe an October surprise or two (the good kind). Since there was no hyped-up save-the-date sent out for an in-person or livestream event, we’re expecting a series of early morning press releases — in the past, Apple has tended to drop them around 9AM ET.
Apple Intelligence is out today
Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
Apple’s AI features are finally starting to appear. Apple Intelligence is launching today on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, offering features like generative AI-powered writing tools, notification summaries, and a cleanup tool to take distractions out of photos. It’s Apple’s first official step into the AI era, but it’ll be far from its last.
Apple Intelligence has been available in developer and public beta builds of Apple’s operating systems for the past few months, but today marks the first time it’ll be available in the full public OS releases. Even so, the features will still be marked as “beta,” and Apple Intelligence will very much remain a work in progress. Siri gets a new look, but its most consequential new features — like the ability to take action in apps — probably won’t arrive until well into 2025.
Apple teases ‘week’ of Mac announcements starting on Monday
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple may not be doing a formal product event this October, but Apple SVP Greg Joswiak is teasing a “week” of Mac announcements starting on Monday morning.
Rumors have been swirling about announcements of updated Macs. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has been all over them, saying in an early October Power On newsletter that Apple was planning to announce a suite of Macs powered by M4 chips as well as a refreshed iPad Mini — though that has since been announced.
Apple is preparing an M4 MacBook Air update for early next year
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple plans to release MacBook Airs with M4 chips in early 2025, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports. The company just refreshed the lineup with M3 chips this spring, but the M4 update will “likely” launch between January and March 2025, Gurman says. Both the 13-inch and 15-inch models will apparently get the M4 update, and they’ll have a similar design to the M2 MacBook Air.
The potential spring launch for M4-equipped MacBook Airs means that product line won’t be part Apple’s rumored announcements for next week. With those updates, Apple is going to reveal new MacBook Pros, Mac Minis, and iMacs, Gurman says.
M4 MacBook Pros spotted in Russian unboxing videos were apparently legit.
That’s according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who writes today that he is “certain these machines are the real deal.” The machines from last week’s leaks seem to be base model M4 MacBook Pros with 16GB of memory and 10-core CPUs and GPUs, he adds.
Apple is expected to announce the laptops along with a smaller Mac Mini, a refreshed iPad Mini, and more soon.
Apple could hold an October event to refresh its smallest iPads and Macs
Illustration: The Verge
Tomorrow’s iPhone 16 launch won’t be the final Apple event of the year, as the company plans to debut some M4 Macs and new iPads with another showing in October, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in today’s Power On newsletter.
Apple could be announcing a new iPad Mini for the first time since 2021 in October, as well as a Mac Mini with an M4 chip, packed into a box about the size of an Apple TV, making that the first real redesign of the diminutive desktop in over a decade. So it’s about time for both! The event will include new versions of the iMac and MacBook Pro, both with M4 chips, as well, Gurman writes.
Apple’s rumored Mac Mini redesign may ditch the USB-A port
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
Apple’s next Mac Mini won’t have USB-A ports, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who writes in today’s Power On newsletter that the new desktops will start to hit Apple’s warehouses in September. The higher-end variant with an Apple M4 Pro chip will ship in October, he writes.
The version with an M4 Pro will still cram a lot of ports, including five USB-C ports (two in the front and three in the back), an ethernet port, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack, according to Gurman’s sources. And the new Mac Mini will apparently have an internal power supply. That’s not too shabby for a computer that’s expected to be about the size of an Apple TV.
Apple’s next Mac Mini could be as small as an Apple TV
Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge
Apple’s smallest Mac is in for some major changes, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. A new version of the Mac Mini coming later this year will undergo the product’s most significant redesign in over a decade. Gurman says “the device will be far smaller than its predecessor, approaching the size of an Apple TV set-top box.” That’s tiny, even if the Mini will likely be taller than Apple’s streamer.
The company has been testing one design with “at least” three USB-C ports and an HDMI output, and the device will maintain its aluminum casing. A Mac Mini that could inconspicuously sit on a TV stand? This thing sounds like a Plex lover’s dream.
The Mac Pro and Studio won’t get the M4 nod until mid-2025
Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
The Mac Studio and Mac Pro aren’t due for an upgrade to Apple’s M4 chip until the middle of next year. That means both machines will still be on Apple’s M2 generation this year, unlike all other Macs except the MacBook Air, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman wrote to Power On subscribers today.
Throughout 2024, though, all of Apple’s laptops (except the MacBook Air) will move to the M4 chip that the company just gave the iPad Pro, Gurman writes. Amusingly, this herky-jerky chip upgrade cycle means that the iPad Pro is currently the single-core performance champ of Apple’s lineup — and it will continue to be for about another year, when compared to the Mac Studio and Mac Pro.
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