The Core cuts to the heart of the Apple news that matters to you every week. iMore's News Editor Stephen Warwick breaks down all the top stories, along with a helping of deals, tips, insight, and humor.
Welcome back to The Core, where the big news in Apple this week is a leak of Apple’s entire 2024/5 Apple silicon Mac lineup and the advent of the very first retro game emulator on iPhone, which is proving just as popular as you might expect.
After some murmurings earlier in the year that Apple was starting work on its M4 chip, we now have our first proper leak from the inimitable Mark Gurman. Reporting for Bloomberg earlier this week, Gurman has revealed that Apple is hard at work on M4, and is planning an “accelerated Mac makeover” that will see every Mac Apple sells adopt the latest generation of silicon for the first time ever.
To that end, he’s revealed a full rundown of every new Mac Apple has in the works for 2024 and 2025. Sadly, there are no surprises, like the return of a larger iMac, an iMac Pro, or the classic 12-inch MacBook, but some hefty chip improvements should make Apple’s best MacBooks and best Macs of tomorrow extremely impressive regardless.
The Core - Every M4 Mac Apple is planning to release
2024
According to Mark Gurman’s leaked timeline, Apple has two, possibly three new Macs in store for 2024. The most recent Mac was the M3 MacBook Air, and the next big thing in Mac will be macOS 15, expected on June 10 at WWDC 2024. After that, the next Mac we’re expecting to see released is the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro. This will be the successor to Apple’s all-new M3 MacBook Pro 14-inch, which was bigger than the previous M2 model and features the Pro’s 120Hz ProMotion display, making it a hefty upgrade. The M4 version will likely adopt the same chassis, given the overall design overhaul is quite recent.
The other 2024 Mac expected is a new M4 iMac to replace the M3 iMac, launched in October 2023. Again, with a relatively recent massive design overhaul, we wouldn’t expect any major design changes to Apple’s slim and colorful all-in-one.
An outside shot for 2024 is the M4 Pro and Max versions of the MacBook Pro in 14 and 16-inch variants. Apple released the M3 versions of these models alongside the aforementioned base model M3 MBP. As such, releasing the trio of chips seems like the obvious play. However, Gurman has a broader window extending into early 2025 for this model, so it’s not guaranteed.
2025
Depending on when the M4 Pro and Max MacBook Pro launch, the first, or perhaps second, M4 Mac of 2025 is expected to be a new M4 and M4 Pro version of the Mac mini. Apple hasn’t released an M3 version, but with M4 so close, this now seems unlikely.
According to Gurman, spring 2024 will also herald the M4 version of the 13 and 15-inch MacBook Air, by which point the M3 version will be around one year old.
The M4 Mac Studio is tipped for launch “around the middle of 2025,” which definitely could mean a launch at WWDC 2025.
Finally, the M4 Ultra Mac Pro is apparently going to launch in the second half of 2025.
Combined, all of these upgrades should mean that by the end of next year, every single Mac will be available with an M4 chip of some description. Further into the future, Gurman’s news indicates that Apple might try and tackle a more regular yearly upgrade cycle for many of these products going forward, just like it does with its best iPhones.
While I’m very excited about the prospect of M4 Apple silicon, I do have one reservation. There are currently no reports of any design changes coming to the Mac lineup. While that could change in the future, my instinct warns me that Apple’s intense processor development could mean Apple’s physical hardware design takes a back seat for the foreseeable future. While Apple’s Macs all look fantastic, I’d be sad to think that Apple isn’t going to push the envelope a bit when it comes to chassis design and other cool features. Here’s hoping that we get some cool new external hardware to complement that potent Apple silicon.
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