Two years in the past, Apple skipped its typical second second-half-of-year occasion, focusing solely on a September 2022 unveil of new iPhones, smartwatches, and earbuds. Final yr I believed the corporate may pull the identical disappearing act, however it ended up rolling out the three-member M3 SoC household, together with an M3-based subset of its methods suite. And this yr? Mid-September predictably introduced us new iPhones, smartwatches, and earbuds. However as October’s finish drew close to with nothing however silence from Cupertino (tempting leaks from Russian vloggers apart), I questioned if this yr could be a repeat of the prior or a reversion to 2022 kind.
Seems, October 2024 ended up being a conceptual repeat of 2023 in spite of everything…properly, form of. Apple waited till final Thursday (as I write these phrases on Halloween) to cryptically “tweet” (or is that “X”?) an “thrilling week of bulletins forward, beginning on Monday morning”. And certainly, the corporate as soon as once more unveiled new SoCs and methods (plus software program updates) this yr. However the information just about (after all) dribbled out over three days this time, versus dropping at one large (on-line) occasion. That mentioned, there had been in-depth (albeit, as ordinary, with a dallop of hype) movies accompanying most of the releases. With out additional ado, and in chronological order:
The iPad mini 7
The primary unveil within the October 2024 new-product sequence truly occurred two weeks in the past, when Apple rolled out its latest-generation tiny pill. That the iPad mini 7 would sooner-or-later seem wasn’t a shock, though I suppose Apple may have flat-out killed the whole iPad mini line as an alternative, because it’s already finished with the iPhone mini. The iPad mini 6 (an instance of which I personal) is greater than three years outdated at this level, as I’d talked about again in Might. And particularly, it’s based mostly on the archaic A15 Bionic SoC and solely embeds 4 GBytes of RAM, each of that are showstoppers to the firm’s widespread Apple Intelligence assist aspirations.
SoC replace (to the A17 Professional) and reminiscence replace (to eight GBytes, reflective of deep studying mannequin storage necessities) apart, the iPad mini 7 just about mirrors its predecessor, though it does now additionally assist the Apple Pencil Professional and Pencil with USB-C, together with “hover” enhancements, in alternate dropping assist for the Pencil 2, and the USB-C bandwidth has been boosted to 10 Gbps. Claimed enhancements to the “jelly scrolling” show habits seen by some iPad mini 6 customers (reality be informed, I by no means seen it, though I principally maintain mine in panorama orientation) are muddled by iFixit’s teardown, which suggests the show controller location is unchanged.
And by the way in which, don’t be overly impressed with the “Professional” qualifier within the SoC’s moniker. That’s the one model of the A17 that’s been introduced to this point, in spite of everything. And though it’s named the identical because the SoC within the iPhone 15 Execs, it’s truly a defeatured variant, with one much less (5, to be exact) GPU core, presumably for yield maximization causes.
O/S updates
Talking of Apple Intelligence, on Monday the corporate rolled out “.1” updates to all of its gadgets’ working methods, amongst different issues including preliminary “child step” AI enhancements. That mentioned, Europe customers can’t entry them in the intervening time, presumably as a result of European Union’s privateness and different considerations, which the corporate hopes to have resolved by subsequent April. And for the remainder of us, “.2” variations with much more enabled AI capabilities are scheduled for launch this December.
A few particular notes on MacOS: first off, along with iterating its latest-generation MacOS 15 “Sequoia” O/S, Apple has adopted longstanding extended-support custom by additionally releasing patches for the latest two prior-generation working system main variations, MacOS 13 (“Ventura”) and MacOS 14 (“Sonoma”). And in my case, that’s an awesome factor, as a result of it seems I gained’t be updating to “Sequoia” any time quickly, no less than on my inside storage capacity-constrained Mac mini. I’d been excited after I learn that MacOS 15.1 betas had been enabling the flexibility to selectively obtain and set up App Retailer software program both to inside storage (as earlier than) or to an exterior drive (as exists in my specific setup state of affairs).
However because it seems, that capability is just enabled for App Retailer-sourced applications 1 GByte or bigger in measurement, which is just related to at least one app I exploit (Skylum’s Luminar AI which, I realized within the technique of scripting this piece, has been outdated by Luminar Neo anyway). Plus, the MacOS “Sequoia” improve from “Sonoma” is ~12 GBytes, and Apple traditionally requires twice that accessible spare capability earlier than it permits an replace try and proceed (proper now I’ve not 25 GBytes, however solely 7.5 GBytes, free on the interior SSD). And the Apple Intelligence capabilities aren’t related to Intel-based methods, anyway. So…nah, no less than for now.
By the way in which, earlier than continuing together with your studying of my piece, I encourage you to observe no less than the second promo video above from Apple, adopted by the perusal of an evaluation (or, in case you favor, take-down) of it by the at all times hilarious (and, I’d, add, brave) Paul Kafasis, co-founder and CEO of longstanding Apple developer Rogue Amoeba Software program, whose glorious audio and different functions I’ve talked about many instances earlier than.
The 24” iMac
Apple rolled out some upgraded {hardware} on Monday, too. The corporate’s M1-based 24” iMac, unveiled in April 2021, was certainly one of its first Apple Silicon-based methods. Apple then skipped the M2 SoC era for this specific computing platform, holding out till final November (~2.5 years later), when the M3 successor lastly appeared. However it seems that the corporate’s now choosing up the tempo, for the reason that M4 model simply confirmed up, lower than a yr after that. That is additionally the primary M4-based laptop from Apple, following within the footsteps of the iPad Professional tablet-based premier M4 {hardware} surprisingly (no less than to me) launched in early Might. That mentioned, as with the defeatured A15 Bionic within the iPad mini 7 talked about earlier on this writeup, the iMac’s M4 can also be “binned”, with solely eight-core CPU and GPU clusters within the “base” model, versus the 9- or 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU within the iPad Execs and different methods to come back that I’ll point out subsequent.
The M4 24” iMac comes first-time commonplace with 16 GBytes of base RAM (to my earlier be aware concerning the iPad mini’s AI-driven reminiscence capability replace…and as a foreshadow, this gained’t be the final time on this protection that you simply encounter it!), and (additionally first-time) gives a nano-texture glass show possibility. Akin to the Lightning-to-USB-C updates that Apple made to its headphones again in mid-September, the corporate’s laptop peripherals (mouse, keyboard and trackpad) now as an alternative recharge over USB-C, too. The entrance digital camera is Middle Stage– and Desk View-enhanced this time, each options benefiting from the mixture of a wide-angle lens and a few nifty computational pictures methods, and as can even be the case for the opposite laptop bulletins to come back. And commensurate with the SoC replace, the Thunderbolt ports at the moment are gen4-supportive.
The Mac mini and M4 Professional SoC
Tuesday introduced a extra radical evolution. The newest iteration of the Mac mini is now formed like a shrunk-down Mac Studio or, in case you favor, a considerably larger spin on the Apple TV. The linear dimensions and general quantity are notably altered versus its 2023 precursor, from:
- Top: 1.41 inches (3.58 cm)
- Width: 7.75 inches (19.70 cm)
- Depth: 7.75 inches (19.70 cm)
- Quantity: 84.7 in3 (1,389.4 cm3)
to:
- Top: 2.0 inches (5.0 cm)
- Width: 5.0 inches (12.7 cm)
- Depth: 5.0 inches (12.7 cm)
- Quantity: 50 in3 (806.5 cm3)
Stated one other approach, the “footprint” space is lower than half of what it was earlier than, on the tradeoff of almost 50% elevated peak. And the burden loss is notably too, from 2.6 kilos (1.18 kg) or 2.8 kilos (1.28 kg) earlier than to 1.5 kilos (0.67 kg) or 1.6 kilos (0.73 kg) now. I additionally ought to be aware that, regardless of these measurement and weight decreases, the AC/DC conversion circuitry remains to be 100% throughout the laptop; Apple hasn’t pulled the “trick” of transferring it to a standalone PSU exterior. That mentioned, legacy-dimension “stacked” peripherals gained’t work anymore:
And the new underside location of the ability button is, in a phrase and IMHO, “bizarre”.
The 2 “or” qualifiers within the earlier weight-comparison sentence beg for clarification which can concurrently be silicon-enlightening. Akin to the sooner iMac dialog, there’s been a SoC era skip, from the M2 straight to the M4. The early-2023 model of the Mac mini got here in each M2 and M2 Professional (which I personal) SoC variants. Equally, whereas this yr’s baseline Mac mini is powered by the M4 (on this case the complete 10 CPU/10 GPU core “spin”), a high-end variant containing the model new M4 Professional SoC can also be accessible. On this specific (Mac mini) case, the CPU and GPU core counts are, respectively, 12 and 16. Reminiscence bandwidth is dramatically boosted, from 120 GBytes/sec with the M4 (the place as soon as once more, the bottom reminiscence configuration is 16 GBytes) to 273 GBytes/sec with the M4 Professional. And the M4 Professional variant can also be Apple’s first (and solely, no less than for a day) system that helps latest-generation Thunderbolt 5. Talking of connectors, by the way in which, built-in legacy USB-A isn’t any extra, although. Carry on the dongles.
MacBook Execs, the M4 Max SoC and a MacBook Air “yet another factor”
Final (apparently, we shouldn’t take Apple actually when it guarantees an “thrilling week of bulletins forward”) however positively not least, we come to Wednesday and the unveil of upgraded 14” and 16” MacBook Execs. The smaller-screen model is available in variants based mostly on M4, M4 Professional and brand-new M4 Max SoC flavors. This time, in case you dive into the tech specs, you’ll discover that the M4 Professional is “binned” into two completely different silicon spins, one (as earlier than within the Mac mini) with a 12-core CPU and 16-core GPU, and a higher-end variant with a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU. Each M4 Professional variations ship the identical reminiscence bandwidth—273 GBytes/sec—which positively can’t be mentioned concerning the high-end M4 Max. Right here, no less than on the 14” MacBook Professional, you’ll once more discover a 14-core CPU, though this time it’s mated to a 32-core GPU, and the reminiscence bandwidth additional upticks to 410 GBytes/sec.
For those who assume that’s spectacular (or possibly simply sophisticated), wait till you see the 16” MacBook Professional’s variability. There’s no baseline M4 possibility on this case, solely two M4 Professional and two M4 Max variants. Each M4 Professional base “kits” include the M4 Professional outfitted with a 14-core CPU and 20-core GPU. The third variant contains the aforementioned 14-core CPU/32-core GPU M4 Max. And as for the highest-end M2 Max 16” MacBook Professional? 16 CPU cores. 40 GPU cores. And 546 GBytes/sec of peak reminiscence bandwidth. The thoughts boggles on the try at comprehension.
Talking (one final time, I promise) of reminiscence, what about that “yet another factor” on this part’s subhead? Apple has bumped up (with one notable Walmart-only exception) the baseline reminiscence of its current MacBook Air cellular computer systems to 16 GBytes, too, at no worth enhance from the unique 8 GByte MSRPs (or, mentioned one other approach, delivering a 16 GByte worth reduce), bringing the whole product line to 16 GBytes minimal. I draw two basic conclusions:
- Apple is “betting the farm” on memory-demanding Apple Intelligence, and
- If I had been a DRAM provider beforehand fearful about filling accessible fab capability, I’d be loving life proper about now (though, that mentioned, I’m certain that Apple’s buying division is placing the screws in your revenue margins on the similar time).
With that, closing in on 2,000 phrases, I’ll log off for now and await your ideas within the feedback!
—Brian Dipert is the Editor-in-Chief of the Edge AI and Imaginative and prescient Alliance, and a Senior Analyst at BDTI and Editor-in-Chief of InsideDSP, the corporate’s on-line publication.
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