Apple is readied for an entire week of M4 Mac announcements
Apple will introduce a number of new products over Halloween week, with the focus being on new Mac updates with M4.
Apple CEO Tim Cook in front of the logo for the week of launches - Image credit: Apple
Following Apple's "Glowtime" event in September, there was the expectation that another event will be on the horizon. Given the lack of discussion of Mac products, as well as iPad updates, during September's announcements, a second presentation for the remaining catalog was widely anticipated.
Mac () your calendars! We have an exciting week of announcements ahead, starting on Monday morning. Stay tuned pic.twitter.com/YnoCYkZq6c
-- Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz)
Apple has since confirmed that new products are on the way, but not via an event. Instead, it plans a week of announcements, starting from October 28.
Unlike the usual event graphics, it's pretty obvious that Apple is communicating that it will be a Mac-heavy week. For a start, Greg Joswiak's post to X starts "Mac your calendars!."
The animation itself also starts off with the face icon of Finder, before morphing into the Apple logo. It also uses the same "Glowtime" aesthetic, hinting at Apple Intelligence, which also runs on Apple Silicon Macs.
This is what is expected to be introduced by Apple during that week.
Mac mini, iMac, MacBook Pro
Ever since the introduction of the M4 varieties of iPad Pro, there has been demand for Apple to do the same for its Apple Silicon Mac models. Without any changes since M3, there's a lot that Apple could change.
Arguably the biggest update it could make is to the Mac mini, if rumors are to be believed. An update is expected soon, with the Mac mini getting a long overdue refresh.
The current Mac mini design is already quite small.
That could include a new smaller form factor that shifts away from its squarish aluminum puck design for something even sleeker. There's even talk of it having five USB Type-C ports instead of USB-A versions.
Alongside the Mac mini, the desktop Macs could also see an update to the iMac. The 24-inch model was last updated to M3 in November 2023, but an update to M4 wouldn't be out of the question.
There have been rumors about Apple creating a larger design of iMac, possibly with a 32-inch display. Whether that comes to fruition is questionable, as there would usually be more rumors about a change as the world marches closer to the expected launch.
An M4 MacBook Pro could be arriving soon
A more obvious change would be to the 14-inch MacBook Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro. Updated in fall 2023, a one-year gap between updates would be reasonable for some of the most popular Mac options in the catalog.
iPad
While Apple's week-long event announcement is extremely Mac-centric, there is a small chance that Apple could announce other things. That could include the base iPad model.
The iPad hasn't been updated for quite some time. The last time it was refreshed was in the fall of 2022.
Rumors haven't said much about the base-grade iPad's updates, the most likely change will be a spec-bump update to a more modern chip. This makes sense as Apple would want to bring Apple Intelligence to as many devices as possible, and that would include the iPad.
Unlikely announcements
While there are certainly things that could be announced by Apple, there's a list of products that may not necessarily arrive either.
For example, since Apple already updated the iPad Pro and iPad Air earlier in 2024, another update months later is very unlikely.
Apple has also updated the iPad mini, with a seventh-gen model introduced in the middle of October via a press release.
On the Mac side, rumors say that the MacBook Air line won't get an update until spring 2025 at the earliest.
When it comes to the heavy-hitters, the Mac Studio and Mac Pro, there's more band news. The rumor mill firmly believes that they could arrive in late 2025.
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
Furthermore there are usually some hints when a new CPU is incoming: Geekbench results with mysterious device IDs, references in beta versions of the operating system, etc. There are no such teasers for the Max and Ultra variants of the M4 silicon at this point.
Other tech media sites (Bloomberg is one) have speculated that the M4 MacBook Air is coming in Q1 2025 with the Mac Studio to follow later. A good bet would be for the Mac Studio with M4 Max SoC to be announced at WWDC 2025 in June.
Another thing not to expect would be any drastic price cuts. It's not like TSMC's latest and greatest node is some sort of bargain offering. Tech media has repeatedly reported wafer price increases. Apple will be pass this along to customers, it's not like they are going to take a major hit to gross margins.
I also doubt the unveiling of a new Apple TV next week. I'm not sure what new silicon would bring to the table. Maybe a couple of minor features but certainly nothing major like a resolution increase. 8K video for consumer devices still isn't here yet even though NHK Japan has been doing terrestrial broadcasts for several years. An Apple TV that does 8K video probably won't come until the FCC migrates to 8K terrestrial broadcasts for US television stations.
It's interesting to see that Apple has chosen to have in-person events in Los Angeles instead of an event at the corporate campus and that they are focusing on a carefully selected handful of creators
as reported by 9to5Mac
https://9to5mac.com/2024/10/24/apple-october-event-confirmed-details/
Perhaps the Max is possible given that the MacBook Pro is typically offered in the vanilla, Pro, and Max variants. Or maybe just an announcement for the Max with actual availability at a later date.
One of the most stressful and traumatic jobs in local television news was the Chyron operator. This person typed in all the name supers, sports scores, weather reports and other text based graphics used in the live newscast. A lot of the data comes in late and even during the newscast. Chyron operators are typing, listening and sending supers to the output channel for air. Back in the 80s at KXAN in Ft. Worth/Dallas news inters who showed soem initiative would be trained up and allowed to do newscasts on occasion. One time a we were doing a story about some conflict between a school and the marching band. The intern typed "Bad Parent" instead of "Band Parent" for an interview with one of the involved parents - that's how it went to air. There was an on-air apology later in the newscast. Nowadays most news supers are generated by the script managment software and controlled by the newscast producer. I think some stations don't even have Chyron Operators any longer. Chyron was a ubiquitous brand of text generator with few competitors back in the day, thus the name "Chyron" being used generically by TV people like Xerox was for copiers. The first Chyron I used had core plane memory - that's how long they've been around. They still exist, but the market is totally different today. So yeah, no more band news.
Monday: Apple introduces the all-new Mac mini M4 Cube.
Shoot some footage, have a few people edit it, post the videos online. Apple PR writes press releases for all new products anyhow. It's not like they are being called into something beyond their normal line of duty. Fly a few execs to L.A. to take selfies with some Instagrammers and TikTokkers.
Not a big deal.