2024 Mac roadmap

[mectojic]

March: M3 Mac Studio / Mac Pro. (Mac Pro will eventually be discontinued, but will remain for a few years to satisfy that 1%.)
June (WWDC): M3 MacBook Air 13 & 15-inch (allowing a year between 15-inch releases).
October: M3 Mac Mini + M3 Pro Mac Mini

Or something like that. There, I spoiled the next year for you.

 

[thenewperson]

Why do you think they’ll keep M3 minis until October??

Anyway, I could see M4 around then 👀

 

[dumastudetto]

Aside from being the Year of Linux on the Desktop, 2024 will be also be the year of iPad Pro.

 

[mectojic]

Why do you think they’ll keep M3 minis until October??

Anyway, I could see M4 around then 👀

M1 Mini was Nov 2020, M2 Mini + pro was Jan 2023. That was more than a 2 year gap. So October 2024 is a fairly reasonable assumption for the M3 Mini.

 

[vigilant]

March: M3 Mac Studio / Mac Pro. (Mac Pro will eventually be discontinued, but will remain for a few years to satisfy that 1%.)
June (WWDC): M3 MacBook Air 13 & 15-inch.
October: M3 Mac Mini + M3 Pro Mac Mini

Or something like that. There, I spoiled the next year for you.

I expect M3 to hit the MacBook Air in March, if not February. Probably the iPad Pro’s as well, with the M2 going into the iPad Air in that same time time period.

One specific reason why is Apple wants to get in on that “Kid is going off to college” portable craze.

I don’t think the Mac Pro is going anywhere anytime soon. For one they do hit a very specific niche, that while isn’t a huge seller, that market is still profitable and the buyers know the value if you are in that space. Another, is we know Apple has been trying to get the Extreme line of chips for this line to make sense, and it wouldn’t work in the thermals of the Studio.

 

[vigilant]

Aside from being the Year of Linux on the Desktop, 2024 will be also be the year of iPad Pro.

I expect the M3 will be huge for the iPad Pro. Wouldn’t be surprised if the iPad Pro ends up getting a 15 inch model as well.

While iPadOS isn’t perfect as a macOS replacement, it is getting to that sweet spot of being good enough with Stage Manager. With all the talk about this being a big year for everything built on iOS (including Apple TV, and iPadOS) I expect we’ll see that needle pressed even more.

It’s crazy to say out loud, but as it stands right now, I can probably do over 90% of my job on the go with an iPad Pro. I expect that trend will continue.

 

[mectojic]

I expect M3 to hit the MacBook Air in March, if not February. Probably the iPad Pro’s as well, with the M2 going into the iPad Air in that same time time period.

One specific reason why is Apple wants to get in on that “Kid is going off to college” portable craze.

I don’t think the Mac Pro is going anywhere anytime soon. For one they do hit a very specific niche, that while isn’t a huge seller, that market is still profitable and the buyers know the value if you are in that space. Another, is we know Apple has been trying to get the Extreme line of chips for this line to make sense, and it wouldn’t work in the thermals of the Studio.

Yeah I would've thought so too, but they only released the 15-inch Air recently.
Apple is still selling its M1 Air as the budget option. If they did an M3 Air, then they would probably still keep the M2 Air as the budget one.

 

[thenewperson]

M1 Mini was Nov 2020, M2 Mini + pro was Jan 2023. That was more than a 2 year gap. So October 2024 is a fairly reasonable assumption for the M3 Mini.

Eh, I don't think the M1 -> M2 timeline really holds here. They released the M3 Pro/Max quite a bit faster than before for example. On top of that, the reason the M2 mini had quite a large window seems to be that they were waiting for M2 Pro reveal. Well now things can happen faster since the M3 and Pro were revealed quite quickly. And of course there's my speculation that M4 will be released around then (no actual proof of course, I just feel the rumour a while ago that they were shooting for 1-year updates originally may have been true).

So March/April 2024 seems likely for the mini. Also I really question releasing the Studio/MP in March/April and then waiting so long for a mini reveal. Seems weird.

 

[vigilant]

Yeah I would've thought so too, but they only released the 15-inch Air recently.
Apple is still selling its M1 Air as the budget option. If they did an M3 Air, then they would probably still keep the M2 Air as the budget one.

Or they can make the M1 Air even less expensive, lowering the barrier to entry. This would give them a more straight forward path at looking at using whatever inventory they have for the M1 processors that they may have left.

 

[mectojic]

Eh, I don't think the M1 -> M2 timeline really holds here. They released the M3 Pro/Max quite a bit faster than before for example. On top of that, the reason the M2 mini had quite a large window seems to be that they were waiting for M2 Pro reveal. Well now things can happen faster since the M3 and Pro were revealed quite quickly. And of course there's my speculation that M4 will be released around then (no actual proof of course, I just feel the rumour a while ago that they were shooting for 1-year updates originally may have been true).

So March/April 2024 seems likely for the mini. Also I really question releasing the Studio/MP in March/April and then waiting so long for a mini reveal. Seems weird.

Good point.
My other concern though would be when the M4 will be announced. Sure, seems like they're able to quickly scale up the M series now and release the Pro/Max/Ultra faster, but that isn't the same as making the next M generation.