M4 MacBook Pro to launch with at least a 10-core CPU; Mac Mini to be offered in M4 and M4 Pro versions

Last week, Apple confirmed it would show off the rest of its M4 lineup complete with new MacBook Pros, Mac Minis and iMacs. A notable upgrade includes at least 16 GB of RAM across all SKUs, double the amount offered on last-gen models. This is a much-needed update as on-device AI tasks such as Apple Intelligence are notoriously heavy memory. Additionally, there's a minor upgrade on the CPU front, too.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says all MacBook Pro models will come with a 10-core M4 variant. In the past, this was reserved for the top-spec iPad Pro variants with 1 TB of storage and above, while the lower versions got a 9-core CPU. Thanks to the availability of 3 GB RAM modules, a lot of memory configurations are possible, including unconventional ones like 28 GB.

Gurman adds the new Mac Mini will be much smaller than its last-gen counterpart along with a bunch of new I/O. It will be available with a base (9-core) M4 chip or an Apple M4 Pro. Meanwhile, the 24-inch iMac chip has to make do with the 9-core M4 variant as well. Interestingly, this is the only mention of the M4 Pro, with no sign of the M4 Max anywhere. Ideally, the new MacBook Pro models should also be offered with Pro and Max versions, but that hasn't been explicitly confirmed yet.

Performance-wise the Apple M4 currently leads the pack across all Arm-powered chips, although the Snapdragon 8 Elite can trounce it in some tests. We got a glimpse at a M4-powered MacBook Pro's performance via Geekbench. Apple should maintain its hegemony in single-core performance. Multi-core, on the other hand, is a more heavily contested segment.