Next week will be a big week for Apple. The Cupertino, Calif., company will have an “exciting week of announcements” starting Monday in preparation for the launch of the seventh-generation iPad mini. What exactly does that mean? Based on some reliable rumors, we already have a pretty good idea. This will be the next step in iOS 18, along with the full reveal of the all-new MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, and iMac powered by the M4 chip.
On Thursday, Apple’s senior vice president of marketing, Greg Joswiak, tweeted a simple message to Apple fans: “Stay tuned.” You don’t need to be a Sherlock Holmes-level detective to know if it’s going to be a new Mac product. The main image shown includes a neon-glowing Finder icon that transforms into the Apple logo. And since Joswiak wants us to “Mac” our calendars, Apple will let go of the ghost hiding its future product plans in time for Halloween.
Mac (😉) Your calendar! We have an exciting week ahead of us with announcements starting Monday morning. stay tuned… pic.twitter.com/YnoCYkZq6c
— Greg Jozwiak (@gregjoz) October 24, 2024
This statement does not imply an actual video event like the one Apple had last year when it announced the M3 MacBook Pro. But it’s more likely that the company will announce these new MacBooks in a press release, similar to how it announced the iPad mini last week. Apple has already announced that iOS 18.1 will be officially released on Monday. Unless something surprises me, the rest of my time will be spent on my Mac. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, usually the most reliable Apple rumormonger, reports that these products will arrive at the end of October.
Rumor has it that Apple will launch a lower-end 14-inch MacBook Pro with a base M4 chip. Later, the company plans to sell a 16-inch version with M4 Pro and/or M4 Max chips. At the rear, there could be a refreshed 24-inch iMac replacing the M3 version. All of these devices look very similar to the last two iterations, but you might wish the notch that houses the webcam could end up being trash.
Next week’s most important release will likely be the improved Mac Mini. It is believed to be smaller than the M2 version and support three USB-C ports and an HDMI connection. You’ll need to check if the Mac Mini model uses the M4 Pro instead of the base M4.
The M4 chip debuted in the 2024 iPad Pro. It should be slightly more powerful than the M3 in laptop form, but we’ll have to see how well it performs in our benchmarks. Apple is making this new effort to support larger NPUs in its desktop products and to support upcoming Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia.
Garman wrote Thursday that Apple also plans to update the MacBook Air with the M4 chip. According to Apple rumor mills, we might see them between January and March. However, we may have to wait even longer for a new high-end Mac Studio.
