With the iPhone 16 release out of the way and September almost over, we can look forward to Apple’s next big product launch event. Rumors say it’ll happen in October. Apple will reportedly launch the iPad mini 7, iPad 11, and various new M4 Macs, including the highly anticipated M4 MacBook Pro refresh.
The latter appeared in an exciting new leak that MacBook Pro fans due for an upgrade will absolutely love. The alleged retail box of the base 14-inch MacBook Pro might have leaked, seemingly confirming one of the best leaks of the year. Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman implied earlier this year that base M4 MacBook Pro models would feature 16GB of RAM.
Apple dropping the base 8GB of RAM variant is also terrific news for the price. You’d get to save up to $200, assuming Apple keeps the current MacBook Pro price structure in place.
According to X user ShrimpApplePro, the following photo shows the base M4 MacBook Pro retail package. There’s no telling whether the retail box is legitimate, but there are hints it might be.
First, Apple removed the 13-inch MacBook Pro from its lineup last year. The cheapest model is the M3 MacBook Pro, which starts at $1,599. Therefore, the base M4 MacBook Pro would also be a 14-inch version. The 16-inch MaBook would feature an M4 Pro chip or better.
The base storage for M3 MacBook Pros is 512GB. It’s a problem Apple fixed recently when it discontinued the 256GB option. You get at least 512GB of flash memory regardless of M3 chip type and screen size.
The only difference is the RAM. Instead of the expected 8GB of memory, the alleged M4 MacBook Pro retail box lists 16GB of RAM. Currently, you have to add $200 to the M3 14-inch MacBook Pro’s starting price to get 16GB of unified memory. M3 Pro variants start with 18GB of RAM.
With Apple Intelligence being one of Apple’s main priorities, it makes sense to bump the base memory to 16GB of RAM on laptops that have “Pro” in the name. It’s one good way to differentiate the Pro from the Air models, and to actually futureproof the computer.
Sure, professionals might buy custom configurations with a lot more RAM, but 16GB of memory will come in handy to regular computer buyers who choose the cheapest option.
While the RAM detail is easily the most exciting, the M4 MacBook Pro retail box above mentions other purported specs. The base M4 chip will feature a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU, as rumors claimed. That’s an upgrade from the 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU configuration of the M3 chip.
The new 14-inch laptop should also feature an additional Thunderbolt 4 port, increasing the number of USB-C connections to three instead of the current two.
Finally, the retail box suggests we’re looking at a Space Black version of the M4 MacBook Pro.
Again, there’s no way to tell whether the leaked M4 MacBook Pro retail packaging is real. However, there’s one inconsistency that might draw your attention. The sticker mentions “Apple ID” instead of “Apple Account.” Apple has started transitioning to Apple Account only recently, so that might explain the packaging issue.
On the other hand, previous leaks have said that suppliers have started shipping some M4 Macs to Apple. The company is reportedly waiting for all M4 Macs to be ready so it can launch them at the same time. This would explain such leaks.
Even if it’s a well-crafted fake, I still hope the other leaks are accurate. Apple will bump the base MacBook Pro memory to 16GB, starting with the M4 generation. We’ll probably know for certain in a few weeks when Apple unveils the M4 Macs.
