According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter, Apple's Mac mini could finally get a new design, but it could come at the cost of some compromises. According to him, the upcoming M4 Mac mini will likely do away with USB-A ports in favor of a radically reduced chassis size.
If the latest rumors about the M4 Mac mini are true, there are several different versions of this tiny desktop PC on the way, headlined by the M4 Pro variant that, by all indications, could be the most premium Mac mini yet. Gurman says this model could ship as early as October, and while it will have to do without the USB-A ports, it still includes a whopping five USB-C ports, as well as an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, and a headphone jack.
That's great for a device that's rumored to be about the same size as an Apple TV, and you won't even have to carry around a separate power adapter because, according to Gurman, it will have its own internal power supply.
With the iPhone 16 unveiling just around the corner, Gurman claims that neither the M4 Mac mini nor the M4 Pro will be announced at Apple's 'It's Glowtime' event on September 9, but will instead be revealed at least a month later, so we won't know anything for certain until October at the earliest.
A worthy sacrifice?
It’s been far too long since the Mac Mini’s design has seen any changes (the devices in our 2012 Apple Mac mini and 2023 Apple Mac mini reviews look nearly identical) — as Gurman noted, the last time we saw a proper refresh of the Mac mini design was nearly 15 years ago.
While some users might think it’s a shame to ditch the USB-A ports, we think it’s worth it. If it’s true that the M4 Mac mini will be the size of an Apple TV, that will make it half as small as the 2023 model: for context, the dimensions of an Apple TV are 93 x 93 x 31 mm (3.66 x 3.66 x 1.2 inches) compared to 197 x 197 x 35.8 mm (7.75 x 7.75 x 1.41 inches) for the M2 Mac mini.
Plus, USB-C is now pretty much standard across all devices, but there are docks and hubs available, so there shouldn’t be any issues if you’re not ready to ditch your USB-A keyboard or mouse just yet. Now that the world is moving away from the old-school USB port, we wouldn’t be surprised to see the 2025 Mac Pro and Mac Studio go without it, too.
