New Macs are likely on the way for Apple, as one of its leads sent a message on the service formerly known as Twitter saying just that.
Want a heads up on all exciting things tech? Sometimes you just need to pay attention to the right people, and mix it with the news from the rumour mill.
We’ve had an idea that new Macs were coming since Apple released its M4 silicon directly into this year’s iPad Pro, an interesting development since iPad models don’t normally act as the debut for a new chip.
And it’s been a year since the M3 first arrived in the MacBook Pro, a chip range that made waves thanks to some of the meaty innards it sported, practically elevating the M3 MacBook Pro to a level that made one of the best portable workstations around.
So it only makes sense that just before the end of the year, Apple is ready with something else.
Apple’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Greg Joswiak, tweeted that a big week of announcements is on the way, and we have an inkling to what’s coming.
M4 Macs
The logo Joswiak’s teaser starts with is a classic Mac image, so naturally, we’re expecting Macs first and foremost.
Specifically, we anticipate a new generation of the MacBook Pro, complete with M4, M4 Pro, and M4 Max chips, and we expect a new generation of the iMac will turn up, too.
The current iMac is an M3 variant, and while it’s not exactly slow, when a new chip comes out, it’s typically seen as something that makes its way to the latest and greatest.
Even if there’s no iMac, the Mac Mini is definitely due for an update.
The current Mac Mini still runs an M2, though you get the choice of the faster M2 Pro. A new version has been rumoured for some time, complete with a redesign that would see a totally new body made to make the miniature Mac much smaller overall. It could end up being near the size of the Apple TV, making for one ridiculously small computer.
USB-C peripherals
One addition that is more or less a definite is a new keyboard, trackpad, and even Apple’s Magic Mouse.
They may not change dramatically, but we should see a shift from the Lightning port the current range uses to the USB-C port everything else uses.
Apple has moved on from Lightning, adopting USB-C for charging and data across all its computers, phones, tablets, and audio accessories.
So far, the only things that have missed out seem to be the mice and keyboard peripherals, which are still Lightning based. Even the Apple AirPods Max received a minor update not too long ago, keeping everything the same except the Lightning port, which was updated to USB-C.
That makes the new accessories more or less a foregone conclusion that Apple will release newbies very, very shortly.
Apple Intelligence, and the dawn of Apple AI
It won’t likely be just new hardware, but also software.
Apple just released a new beta of iOS 18 with Apple Intelligence in it complete with language support for Australia and New Zealand, but the first official release is expected next week, and that’ll cater to American English to begin with only.
The good news is that Apple’s AI approaches are coming, and Australia will be on the cards, with a release expected by the end of the year.
The iPhone 16 range is supported, as are last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, and the recently announced iPad Mini will include support, as will the iPad Air and iPad Pro.
About the only current iPad that won’t play nicely is the standard 10th generation iPad, and while that could see an update, it might wait until next year before it does.
Maybe a new Apple TV?
It’s also entirely possible the Apple TV will see an update, if only to accommodate Apple Intelligence on that platform.
This one seems unlikely, but it is possible. The current Apple TV 4K relies on the A15 chip, which means support for Apple Intelligence isn’t there. A shift to a newer processor would change that, suggesting a new Apple TV could be around the corner.
We’ll certainly know next week, likely from Tuesday in Australia (Monday in the US), which is when all of this will kick off.
