The M4 Mac launch is incoming, but not how you might expect

By Willow Roberts Published October 22, 2024

The 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3 Max chip seen from behind. — Luke Larsen / Digital Trends

The past few months have been full of speculation, anticipation, and pretty wild rumors concerning the upcoming M4 Macs — and now the predicted release date of November 1 is just a week or so away. Despite the lack of an event announcement, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman still believes the launch is “imminent,” with an announcement reportedly coming on October 30.

According to him, Apple Stores are running very low on iMac, Mac mini, MacBook Pro, Magic Keyboard, Magic Mouse, and Magic Trackpad units — and this usually happens when updates are about to be released.

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While most of the whispers lately have focused on the Mac lineup, it is true that hints about new peripherals have surfaced, too. It’s assumed that the new Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad, and Magic Keyboard updates will mostly focus on the switch to USB-C. With any luck, Apple will also make a slight adjustment to the location of the Magic Mouse’s port and bring an end to the decade of ridicule the poor mouse has suffered through.

But turning back to the question of “when” this launch is coming — Gurman has also said on X (formerly Twitter) confirming a media event will take place in Los Angeles on October 30. According to the post, it seems like there won’t be a keynote, just product videos and press releases.

Apple is inviting media/creators at different appointment times throughout the day on 10/30 in my town of LA — they seemingly aren’t bringing a group together to watch a keynote video. So the announcement is online only (video and press releases), as I’ve been indicating. https://t.co/sVk6GjrVeC

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) October 22, 2024

With this post, hope for a proper event seems almost definitely dead — and in some ways, this does make sense. After all, it’s true that the M4 chip has already been announced and has even launched with the latest iPad Pro, so perhaps an event isn’t strictly necessary.

On the other hand, the Mac mini is due for its first design overhaul in over a decade, so you might have thought Apple would want to show that off in a bit more detail. Plus, assuming the industry experts are correct, there are six product updates due to be announced, and that number in itself seems like enough of an excuse for an event.

Either way, everything should be made clear next Wednesday, and we’ll be sure to report the latest.

Computing Writer

Willow Roberts has been a Computing Writer at Digital Trends for a year and has been writing for about a decade. She has a…

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