Update 11:30am ET: Apple has announced the M4 Mac mini, which matches the leaked specs and images below.
We’re one announcement into Apple’s exciting week of Mac reveals, and we’ve already hit a problem. Not with the new machines themselves (although we have notes) but with someone else spoiling an upcoming surprise.
No less a company than Amazon appears to have (presumably by accident) announced the new M4 version of the Mac mini before Apple could. As MacRumors noticed, Amazon’s U.S. product listing for the M4 iMac initially included a comparison chart to help customers weigh up the specs and features of that product against various alternatives… and these alternatives include the unreleased Mac mini.
The imminent launch of the new Mac mini is hardly a secret, even if Apple will be annoyed at having its thunder stolen by an ostensible partner. (The chart has since been taken down, adding to the impression that this was all a mistake.) But the comparison chart, by its nature, contained far more information than the bare fact of the machine’s existence. Take a look:
The chart reveals, for example, that the mini will be available with the M4 or M4 Pro chip, and that it can have a CPU with up to 14 cores and a GPU with up to 20. It also indicated that the RAM limit has been doubled, with the Mac mini soon to be available with up to 64GB, whereas the top storage capacity remains the same at 8TB.
A small image suggested that there will be two forward-facing USB-C ports, and perhaps even a headphone jack on the right side (it’s hard to make out what it is). And, perhaps most disappointingly, the chart pointed to the machine being sold in just one color finish: silver. No sign of the hoped-for Space Black edition of the Mac mini.
All very frustrating for Apple, which is expected to announce the new mini either today or tomorrow. For the latest news and rumors, check our regularly updated M4 Mac mini superguide.
Author: David Price, Editor, Macworld
David has been writing about technology for well over two decades, and got on board the Apple hype train when covering the original iPhone launch in 2007. He is an enthusiastic Apple Watch evangelist and feels that the HomePod is misunderstood.