Apple is likely to upgrade the Mac mini and Mac Pro to the M4 family of chips while skipping the M3 series altogether, reports Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman in the latest edition of the weekly Power On newsletter.
In the paywalled Q&A section of the newsletter, Gurman states how he expects Apple to skip the M3 generation entirely for some Mac models including the Mac mini and the Mac Pro. Apple plans to upgrade the Mac mini around the end of 2024, which is around the same time the company is rumored to unveil the M4 chip. The M3 series would be around one year old by then, and it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to upgrade the Mac mini with a year-old processor.
The report adds that Apple is preparing M4 and M4 Pro variants of the Mac mini in direct upgrades of the current models powered by the M2 and M2 Pro. As rumored earlier, Apple plans to release an upgraded Mac Pro with a high-end M4 chip around the second half of 2025, paving the way for the tower computer to skip a hypothetical M3 Ultra by receiving a considerable and direct upgrade from the M2 Ultra announced in June 2023.
Apple last upgraded the Mac mini in January 2023 with the M2 and M2 Pro chips. The upgrade also saw the addition of two more Thunderbolt 4 ports and an upgraded HDMI port for the M2 Pro variant. Apple also upgraded the wireless connectivity of the Mac mini with support for Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.
It wouldn’t be unusual for Apple to skip an entire generation of Apple silicon for one or more Mac models. For example, the 24-inch iMac skipped the M2 altogether after being upgraded from the M1 to the M3 in October 2023 alongside the M3 MacBook Pro lineup. It now appears that Apple could do the same with the Mac mini, Mac Pro, and even the Mac Studio.
However, Apple plans to upgrade every Mac with the forthcoming M4 family of chips to boost sales and tout on-device AI performance. The transition to the M4 generation is expected to focus heavily on on-device AI performance, taking advantage of new AI features Apple plans to announce with iOS 18 and macOS 15 at WWDC 2024. The new Apple silicon family of chips is expected to be unveiled later this year with a refresh to the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini.
