We’ve heard rumors that Apple may have an upgraded M4 Mac mini on the way, which may be announced at a special Apple event next month. But it seems Apple may have accidentally leaked the new machine a little early, and this one may come with five USB-C ports.
The machine was seemingly revealed thanks to a change of code in Apple software (likely macOS Sequoia) — as spotted by Aaron Rogers at MacRumors. This snippet reveals that the Mac mini will run on Apple Silicon (probably M4), and will pack five USB-C ports.
The last model we saw, the Mac Mini M2, had four USB-C ports and an extra two USB-A ports. Alongside HDMI, a headphone jack and Gigabit ethernet. Five USB-C ports seems like an improvement, but rumor has it that Apple will be removing the USB-A ports. That means you'll be one port down, and unable to use your existing USB-A accessories without some sort of adapter.
It’s unclear what’s going to happen about the additional ports. Apple of the past might have tried to roll them into USB-C, as it did with MacBook Pro, but that proved to be very unpopular. So much so that basic ports like HDMI and card readers were reintroduced on MacBook Pros a few years ago.
Mark Gurman at Bloomberg also believes that the Mac mini will be getting a major redesign this year — something that hasn’t happened since 2010. Apparently this new model could be as small as an Apple TV, with M4 and M4 Pro chip options. Meaning the Mac mini has completely skipped over the M3 series.
We’ll no doubt find out more next month at the final Apple event of the year. The Mac mini is expected to be joined by the M4 MacBooks, a new iMac, as well as the M4 Pro and M4 Max chips.
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