If you're expecting a Mac mini at WWDC, you're probably going to be disappointed
Apple appears to be planning to skip an M3 revision to the Mac mini in favor of a more significant update featuring the M4 chip.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has previously reported that Apple would update the Mac mini line with M4 and M4 Pro chips towards the end of 2024 or early 2025. In a report on Sunday, he's amplified that, and said that there probably won't be a M3 Mac mini at all.
The Mac mini was last updated in January of 2023 with the M2 and M2 Pro.
That Mac mini M2 Pro update also came with more Thunderbolt 4 ports, Wi-Fi 6E, HDMI 2.1 for the M2 Pro model, and updates to Bluetooth. It isn't clear if the next Mac mini will sport any further hardware changes, beyond the M4.
The M4 is thought to get big upgrades to the Neural Engine component of the chip, alongside other AI enhancements. Such improvements are expected to be a major topic of June's WWDC conference.
Since the M1 was first introduced, Apple has staggered releases of some models. The iMac, for example, was upgraded to the M3 chips late in 2023, skipping the M2 entirely.
Other models are still waiting. The Mac Studio and Mac Pro, like the Mac mini, are currently on the M2.
Rumor Score: Likely
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
It’s not enough to just say it’s all product-driven, and they only build the silicon their products need. Everyone understands why Apple doesn’t talk about unreleased products. But expectations need to be managed.
Marketing and management needs to wake up and realize the architects and engineers need to be allowed to explain more than what is currently being explained.
i wonder if when the m4 comes out we might finally see the whole Mac lineup updated at once — that would be something.
In general, architects and engineers should not be talking to anyone outside of the company unless expressly tasked with doing so under very constrained conditions. When they do talk, it's usually behind closed with NDAs in place. Apple's secrecy is not just to benefit from the wow factor of public announcements, it's also important to preserve the trust relationships with their partners, select customers, channel partners, and investors who have been given insight, i.e., established expectations, into what is coming so they can hit the ground running when the new Apple product drops, e.g., accessory makers, case makers, high profile app developers, etc.
Apple owes absolutely nothing to rumor mongers and speculators who earn a living weaving their rumors and prognostications. Worse yet, when they do gain access to privileged information by forming relationships with unscrupulous Apple employees or channel partners who have neither respect nor loyalty to their benefactors or those who have trusted them to live up to their obligations, legal and moral. We don't get to decide how or when Apple sets expectations surrounding upcoming product releases. That's something that Apple's senior executives like Tim Cook get to decide on their owns terms, not ours. We have no skin in the game. Apple has its entire hide in the game and Tim Cook is responsible for ensuring that Apple doesn't get skinned alive.
The primary reason there is even Apple Silicon today, is that Intel created a roadmap, that they failed to follow for so long, that Apple had no choice but to move on.
I don't believe that Apple needs to provide a roadmap for anything other than the Mac Pro, and even that, is going to be so limited in volume, that I even wonder if it matters to the market anymore.
Oh, please! Why is anyone entitled to Apple's or any company's product roadmaps?! Nothing like tipping your hand to the competition or delaying sales for the person who is always waiting for the next thing or failing to meet a random deadline and pissing off customers. Nothing to be gained at all.
Apple only launched the M3 Air 7 weeks ago.
Even if Apple wanted to push ahead with AI and M4, that can come in October. This gives them 7 months to update the M2 models.
There aren't many people buying desktops at all, which is why they get the least attention. There's no compelling reason for Apple to put M4 in the Studio model early.
I would guess the mini would be quietly bumped to M3 at the same time as the iPad Pro at the upcoming event. Then Studio and Pro to M3 Ultra at WWDC. In October, they can have an AI Mac event for M4 after they have an AI iPhone 16 event showcasing on-board AI models with an updated Neural Engine in A18 Pro.