Apple’s M4 Macs could launch ahead of Black Friday – and cheapest models might finally come with 16GB RAM

(Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Apple’s rumored batch of M4 Macs could be with us shortly, and these machines might launch later in October, and go on sale soon thereafter according to the latest from the rumor mill.

This is more from Mark Gurman, a respected Apple leaker who spills gossip regularly via a weekly newsletter, the latest chatter from which insists that Macs with M4 chips will be revealed towards the end of October, and at least some of those devices are set to go on sale come November 1.

As previously rumored, the M4-toting hardware to be launched includes an entry-level MacBook Pro 14-inch, alongside higher-end models of that 14-inch laptop, and high-end MacBook Pro 16-inch flavors too (nothing on the lower-end in the latter case).

There’s also an iMac M4 on the horizon, and a redesigned, more compact, Mac mini with options for the M4 or M4 Pro chips (and also a new iPad mini M4).

More M4 Macs are coming next year, as Gurman has already told us, likely MacBook Air 13-inch and 15-inch models, which are set to arrive at some point in the first half of 2025. Previously, Gurman has hinted these could debut in Q1 of 2025, but that prediction isn’t made in this latest newsletter (possibly because it’s a whole raft of products the leaker is talking about here, including accessories, so launch timings may be a bit all over the place across the board).

Those laptops will supposedly be followed by a refreshed Mac Studio with M4 CPU (long-awaited by some folks) which could arrive around the middle of 2025, towards the start of H2 – so that might be July or August – and then a Mac Pro M4 will follow later in the second half of next year.

Also in late 2025, we can expect the first generation of M5 Macs, Gurman believes, meaning Apple will maintain its current cadence with its range of computers – this would presumably include the MacBook Pro M5 models, and maybe more.

MacBook Pro 14 M3 Max (2023) being held in a hand — (Image credit: Future / Lance Ulanoff)

Analysis: A plausible scenario, but there’s room for doubt yet

All of this sounds plausible and it chimes with what Gurman has said before, multiple times, so the leaker appears to be confident enough in these assertions. Recently, we thought we detected a wobble in that confidence around a potential October unveiling for the M4 Macs, but it appears that any doubt has been pushed aside – if indeed there was any present in the first place.

With a potential on-sale date now being put forward, one that’s less than four weeks away, these predictions now feel more concrete – especially as we’ve seen quite a lot of leaks around the MacBook Pro M4 very recently, including purported photos of the box, which makes sense if it’s imminent.

Of course, we must still be cautious about what to expect as ever. Even if these are Apple’s plans correctly laid out as they stand now, things could still change over the course of October.

One of the big questions remains, though: are we set to see 16GB of RAM as an absolute minimum configuration for the Unified Memory loadout in the MacBook Pro models, meaning the 14-inch laptop will get this treatment as well – and indeed maybe across all Apple’s Macs? Fingers crossed that’s the case.

Darren is a freelancer writing news and features for TechRadar (and occasionally T3) across a broad range of computing topics including CPUs, GPUs, various other hardware, VPNs, antivirus and more. He has written about tech for the best part of three decades, and writes books in his spare time (his debut novel - 'I Know What You Did Last Supper' - was published by Hachette UK in 2013).