Skip to main content

Next week might be the biggest Mac launch since 2020

Logos from the Apple Mac announcement tweet.
Apple

Finally, we have confirmation of the long-anticipated fall Mac launch. The rollout, however, may be a bit unconventional for Apple.

At first, we expected a product event, then we speculated about videos and press releases — and now Apple has revealed an entire “week of announcements” starting on Monday morning. It’s expected that the announcements will include the latest M4 refreshes for the Mac lineup, including the MacBook Pro, iMac, and a completely refreshed Mac mini. While many of those will merely be M4 updates, this may end up being the biggest single window of Mac releases since the initial M1 launch in 2020 in terms of sheer quantity.

Recommended Videos

Mac (😉) your calendars! We have an exciting week of announcements ahead, starting on Monday morning. Stay tuned… pic.twitter.com/YnoCYkZq6c

— Greg Joswiak (@gregjoz) October 24, 2024

As mentioned, hardware designs are expected to stay the same, with the Mac mini being the one exception. The mini PC is expected to get its first major redesign in over a decade — and perhaps this could be something Apple wants to give extra attention to later in the week.

According to Mark Gurman’s latest reporting, we might also get updates for the Magic Trackpad, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Mouse. Don’t get too excited though. We’re not expecting Apple to finally start from scratch on the infamous Magic Mouse, instead just updating the port from Lightning to USB-C. These could potentially get their own separate announcement, though they are most likely launching alongside the M4 iMac.

Will Apple spread these out throughout the week or reveal all six of these products on Monday morning? Who knows, but Apple certainly suggested that the announcements will only “start” on Monday morning.

As for the M4 MacBook Pro, it has been talked about extensively for months now. Everyone knows it’s coming, and it has also suffered from some pretty unprecedented leaks (whether they were real or not). It would be quite exciting if Apple decided to show off just how secretive it can be by revealing something we haven’t heard anything about yet.

That might be a little optimistic, however. Some responses to Apple senior vice president Greg Joswiak’s tweet are quite negative, writing off the announcements entirely because they believe the lack of an event means there won’t be anything exciting.

But, if nothing else, we can at least be happy that the wait is finally over — and I’m personally excited to see what the M4 MacBook Pro wallpaper will look like because there’s no way it will be the same as the M3 one we saw in all the leaks, right?

Willow Roberts
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Willow Roberts has been a Computing Writer at Digital Trends for a year and has been writing for about a decade. She has a…
Apple silicon has made the MacBook Pro a consumer favorite
Someone using a MacBook Pro at a desk.

Apple’s computer lineup has greatly benefitted from its update to the M4 chip in 2024. The brand introduced the M4 MacBook Pro and iMac lines in the last year– and research has further indicated that Apple’s decision to shift from Intel processors to proprietary silicon was a solid move. It has made consumers favor Apple laptops more. 

According to statistics from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP), MacBook form factors, in either MacBook Pro or MacBook Air made up 86% of Apple’s PC market share in 2024. Consumers especially favored the M4 MacBook Pro at a rate of 53%, while 33% of MacBook Air models shipped during the year, and 14% of iMac models. These figures vary only slightly from the year prior; however, CIRP noted that Apple appears to have weathered any fluctuations that may have occurred due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Read more
Mac users are now in danger of a well-known Windows phishing attack
Apple MacBook Air 13 M4 rear view showing lid and logo.

If you're using a Mac, such as the new MacBook Air, you might have to be careful. A phishing attack that previously plagued Windows users has now made its way to macOS, and it's easy to fall for it.

This was spotted by 9to5Mac. Researchers from LayerX have been tracking a well-known phishing attack that caused a lot of grief to those who were tricked by it. Previously, the main target of these hackers was Windows, but Microsoft was able to largely eliminate it -- up to 90% of all attacks on Windows PCs are said to have been fixed thanks to new updates to Edge, Chrome, and Firefox that block scareware.

Read more
Here’s how Apple’s first foldable MacBook might win me over
The Zenbook Fold 17 open on a table.

Rumors have persisted for years now that Apple is working on a touchscreen MacBook, but I’ve never been truly convinced. For one thing, I don’t see how a touchscreen could improve my MacBook experience enough to justify the inevitable price rise. This is Apple we’re talking about, after all, and there’s just no way that a touchscreen MacBook will possibly come cheap.

As well as that, I’ve long agreed with Steve Jobs’ belief that adding a touchscreen to a regular MacBook is an ergonomic nightmare. Constantly reaching up to the display is a quick way to exhaust your arms, and paining its users isn’t really part of Apple’s playbook. The Mac operating system isn’t designed for touch either, and in any case, adding a touchscreen would result in all manner of greasy fingerprints on your monitor. It’s never seemed like a good idea to me.

Read more