Apple is reportedly testing multiple M4-powered Macs for launch later this year. More importantly, a new report says all the Macs ship with 16GB or 32GB of system memory.
This signals that Apple might finally bid farewell to the paltry 8GB RAM for Mac base models.
M4 Macs could ship with twice the entry-level RAM
Since 2016, entry-level Macs shipped with 8GB RAM on the entry-level model. Apple stuck to the same 8GB baseline with the switch to Apple silicon in late 2020.
While the company now offers Macs for professionals with up to 128GB of system memory, entry-level Macs still ship with 8GB RAM, despite the industry moving toward 16GB of RAM as the baseline. Even flagship Android smartphones ship with 12GB or more RAM now.
In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman says Apple could finally change this. Reportedly, the company is testing multiple M4 Macs with 16 or 32GB of system memory. The lack of an 8GB model indicates the company might do away with that configuration entirely.
Gurman also says that M4 Macs will support up to 32GB of system memory — up by 8GB compared to M3 Macs, which max out at 24GB.
The additional entry-level RAM should help M4 Macs run Apple Intelligence and other AI-related tasks. It remains unclear whether the bump in system memory will come with a price hike.
M4 MacBooks Pro, iMac, and Mac mini coming this year
Most M4 Macs will feature a 10-core CPU and 10-core GPU. However, the report says some models in testing sport an eight-core CPU and eight-core GPU. Apple could use this binned-down SoC on the base model Macs, with higher RAM and storage configurations featuring the 10-core chip.
As previously reported, Apple likely will launch M4-powered MacBook Pro, iMac and Mac mini computers later this year. Other devices in the Mac lineup will get the M4 refresh in 2025. Besides the AI-focused M4 chip, the new MacBooks supposedly will not bring any other major changes. The M4 Mac mini could receive a big design revamp, though, shrinking to less than half the current model’s size.
