Apple drops a major hint that new desktop Mac models are coming soon
iMac? Mac Studio? Mac Pro?
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WithApple’s annualWWDC 2023event rapidly approaching, there’s a lot of speculation about new hardware that could be unveiled alongside the usual wealth of software updates – and a major hint in that direction has now been dropped by Apple itself.
As spotted by developerNicolás Álvarez(via9to5Mac), the code inside Apple’s own Find My app for macOS is now referencing three unknown Mac models, suggesting launches in the not-too-distant future. The names in the code don’t tell us much about these Macs though: they’re referred to as Mac14,8, Mac14,13, and Mac14,14.
It’s a big clue that refreshes are on the way, and most likely for the iMac, the Mac Studio, or the Mac Pro – or perhaps a combination of these Mac lines. From these snippets of code alone, it’s not clear how many new computers we should be expecting.
What to expect
In the past, Apple has used the “Mac 14,x” identifier to refer to Macs runningthe M2 chip, which would suggest that these new models aren’t going to introduce an M3 chip upgrade. That would put a new Apple iMac out of the running, according toprevious rumors.
TheApple Mac minialready got a major upgrade at the start of this year, and we haven’t heard much in the way of leaks around a 2023 version of theApple Mac Studio– it made its debut in March 2022 with an M1 chip, so it’s possible that a new model could see the light of day before the end of the year.
Perhaps the Mac most likely to get a refresh next is the Mac Pro: there havebeen rumorsin that direction for several months now, and as we’vepreviously pointed out, a new Mac Pro is well overdue with the current model debuting in 2019. It could even show up with its own specialM2 Extreme chip.
Analysis: buy with caution
One of the reasons that we diligently report hardware leaks and rumors here on TechRadar is to give you a little bit of extra guidance when you’re thinking about buying new devices – you don’t really want to buy a new computer if it’s about to be replaced.
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That’s particularly true with Apple, which doesn’t tend to reduce the prices of its hardware devices over time, even when a refresh is imminent. For example, we wouldn’t expect theiPhone 14to drop in price until theiPhone 15is official.
With that in mind it’s perhaps sensible to hold off on buying a new iMac, Mac Studio or Mac Pro for the next few months if you’re thinking about upgrading. Of course the current models are all perfectly fine – but faster versions could be about to appear.
It’s not altogether clear whether or not we’ll hear any Mac announcements atWWDC, which starts on June 5, but by then we may well have a clearer idea about what Apple is planning for the rest of the year.
Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.
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