The Mac Mini is set to skip the M3 chip in favor of an M4 model — what we know
Apple’s heavily rumored M4 chip is almost upon us, with the new silicon set to power the latest MacBook Pro models alongside a fresh 24-inch iMac before the end of the year. The Mac Mini should also get the M4 treatment, as Crew Cupertino’s tiny PC now seems likely to skip the M3 chip altogether.
As day follows night, this latest Apple rumor naturally comes from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman (thanks, MacRumors). In his most recent “Power On” newsletter, the well-connected journo explains that he expects the next Mac Mini to skip the M3 generation entirely, with an M4 Mini expected to launch “between the end of 2024 and early 2025”.
Bypassing the M3 chip looks to be down to a simple matter of timing, with Gurman stating there isn’t “room for M3 models to come out before then, so it’s probably safe to say those Mac desktops will skip the M3 generation.”
Whether Gurman’s reports are on the money or not, the Mac Mini is crying out for a silicon upgrade. The latest version of Apple’s teeny PC was released in January of last year with Mac Mini M2 and M2 Pro models. M4 Minis would obviously be hugely welcome at this point, and we expect them to include the dual Thunderbolt 4 connections, HDMI 2.1 port and support for Wi-Fi 6E that the 2023 Mac Mini introduced.
M4 Minis would obviously be hugely welcome at this point, and we expect them to include the dual Thunderbolt 4 connections, HDMI 2.1 port and support for Wi-Fi 6E that the 2023 Mac Mini introduced.
The M4 chip also looks set to sport a faster Neural Engine to speed up AI tasks, to further sweeten what already seems to be a mouth-watering upgrade to the existing Mini. As for the micro desktop skipping a chip generation, Apple has followed this strategy in other areas. You only need to look at the iMac for a similar situation, where the company decided to skip the M2 chip for its PC, going from the M1 to the M3 model that was released in the closing months of 2023.
If the jump to M4 seems ahead of schedule considering it feels like the M3 lineup only arrived yesterday, you can probably put that down to the escalating chip wars in the computing market. The Snapdragon X Elite chipset already outpaces even the M3 Pro in multi-core tasks, so it’s understandable Apple wants to manufacture M4 products as soon as possible. Suffice to say, if you’re pining for a Mac Mini, you should probably save your pennies for the rumored new M4 version that should ship within the next 12 months.
