Apple unveiled the iPhone 16, AirPods 4, and Apple Watch Series 10 a week ago. All these devices are available for preorder and will ship on September 20th to most buyers. That is, most iPhone 16 Pro versions seem to be sold out on Apple’s online store. You’ll need to wait a few weeks to have those late preorders delivered.
But Apple isn’t done releasing new products. A new report from Mark Gurman says that Apple will introduce M4 Macs and cheaper iPads at a special media event in a few weeks.
The M4 Macs include the M4 MacBook Pro, the M4 iMac, and the M4 Mac mini. On the tablet side, the iPad mini 7 and iPad 11 are likely tablet announcements at the event. Given that the M4 iPad Pro and M2 iPad Air came out earlier this year, these are the only possible tablets Apple can upgrade.
The Bloomberg reporter detailed the M4 Macs in the Power On newsletter. According to Gurman, Apple has developed the following M4 Macs for the second half of 2024:
- J604: a new low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro with the M4 chip.
- J614 and J616: new high-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, each with two pro-level M4 chip options.
- J623: a new iMac with the M4 chip.
- J773: the revamped, smaller Mac mini in M4 and M4 Pro chip variations.
The list of codenames above doesn’t include M4 MacBook Air models (J713 and J715) because these will be refreshed later. Apple might unveil new MacBook Air models in the first quarter of 2025.
Moreover, Apple will reportedly bring the M4 chip to the Mac Studio (J575) next summer. The Mac Pro (J704) should get the new chips before the end of 2025.
Unsurprisingly, Apple Intelligence should be the main focus of the event. Apple made a big deal about the M4’s AI abilities when it introduced the M4 iPad Air earlier this year. Also, Apple Intelligence will not be ready until October for any of Apple’s devices. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple used the October event to start rolling out the first Apple Intelligence features to existing iPhones, iPads, and Macs.
Not all the new devices that Apple will unveil in October will necessarily support Apple Intelligence. The iPad 11 is one such device. If Apple wants the tablet to run Apple Intelligence, it’ll have to be upgraded to an A17 Pro chip at the very least. The chipset would also have to be paired with 8GB of RAM.
But Gurman said “lower-end iPads” are coming in a few weeks. That’s plural. The iPad mini 7 is the other expected refresh from Apple. The iPad Mini 6 starts at $499, so it’s more affordable than the iPad Air 6 and M4 iPad Pro.
Unlike the iPad 11, the iPad mini 7 might get Apple Intelligence. All Apple needs to do to have its AI features run on the smaller tablet is pack an A17 Pro or A18 flavor inside its smallest tablet. Again, it would have to be paired with 8GB of RAM.
Rumors also say the iPad mini 7 will feature better cameras, a fix for the “jelly scrolling” behavior, and new color options. The iPad mini 7 would easily be one of the event’s highlights.
It’s unclear when Apple will announce these new devices. Gurman did not specify a date. He said Apple is waiting for assemblers to start shipping the higher-end MacBook Pros and M4 Pro Mac mini. Everything else would be ready to launch right now, but Apple wants to have all the new Macs launch simultaneously.
Last year, Apple held an event on October 30th for the M3 Macs. I think Apple will not wait that long this year. Also, Gurman said the event should drop in the coming weeks. This suggests it could happen sooner than late October.
Again, Apple Intelligence should be the main focus of the press conference. Apple Intelligence is a very big deal for the iPhone 16 series. Apple is using its AI as a big marketing tool to sell the new phones, but buyers won’t have any Apple Intelligence on hand come September 20th. I’d expect Apple to want to roll out iOS 18.1 as soon as possible to those devices.
