New M4 Macs are coming this month, or maybe they are already here. Recently, Mark Gurman reported that Apple will announce new M4 Macs and iPad Mini 7 in late October, with some models expected to ship as early as November 1. Apple is well-known for secrecy, keeping all its products behind a curtain until they are officially released. So, when someone claims and shows off they have got their hands on an Apple device that hasn’t even been officially launched, everyone will take notice and get eager to know how this is possible. This is exactly what happened with the as-yet-unannounced M4 MacBook Pro.
The videos of unannounced M4 MacBook Pros have been surfacing on social media. Over the weekend, a Russian YouTuber Wylsacom uploaded a video claiming to have got the new base model of the genuine Apple M4 MacBook Pro, which Apple is planning to unveil later this month. The YouTuber unboxed the Mac and shared some initial thoughts. He also shared some M4 MacBook Pro Geekbench results with record-breaking performance. While it’s hard to believe, some signs suggest the showed-off M4 MacBook Pro could be legitimate. The YouTuber showed the back of the laptop’s box and revealed it contained a 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4 chip with a 10-core CPU & 10-core GPU, 16GB RAM, and 512GB of storage.
After that, another Russian YouTuber Romancev768 also posted a Shorts video of what appeared to be the M4-powered MacBook Pro. The video shows a box for a 14-inch Space Black MacBook Pro in M4 configuration with a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and three Thunderbolt 4 ports. Like the first video, the box in the second video also has last year’s wallpaper. However, the “About This Mac” screen shown in the video, indicates that the MacBook Pro is an unreleased November MacBook Pro with an M4 chip.
M4 MacBook Pro Leaked Details
The MacBook Pro models shown in both videos have the standard M4 chipset, and not the higher-end M4 Pro or M4 Max, the leaked unit seems to be the next entry-level 14-inch MacBook Pro with M4. If this turns out to be legit, Apple has just doubled the RAM from 8GB to 16GB and also added a third Thunderbolt 4 port, which is a nice upgrade over the current 14-inch MacBook Pro. Also, the Space Black finish would be a new color option for the new M4 14-inch MacBook Pro. The current base models only have Space Grey and Silver options.
In terms of design, the 14-inch M4 MacBook Pro doesn’t seem to have any changes. Also, all other specifications, including the display size & resolution and port configuration (MagSafe 3, HDMI, and an SD card slot) remain the same.
Is Apple Facing the Worst Warehouse Leak?
At the moment, the source of these leaks is unclear. Mark Gurman says that if the shown MacBooks turn out to be legitimate, it would be an ‘unprecedented breach’ at Apple. Last week, a leaker “ShrimpApplePro” claimed that one seller that at least 200 units of the unannounced 14-inch MacBook Pro, and they were apparently being sold in a private Facebook group. This led him to believe the leaks had originated from a warehouse. There’s no evidence to back it up, but this whole situation seems to be shady.
Well, it’s incredibly rare to see a fully functional Apple product before an official announcement. That too, all happened in Russia, where it’s hard to get even the officially announced Apple products. So, we are skeptical about this leak, even though it looks pretty convincing and authentic. Even if the M4 MacBook Pro leaked videos are fake, some specifications seem to be pretty accurate.
Mark Gurman reported that we’ll get to see new M4 Macs around the end of October. We’re likely to see a low-end 14-inch MacBook Pro with an M4, and a higher-end 14-inch & 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro and M4 Max chips. Apple will also launch an all-new Mac Mini in M4 and M4 Pro variants, and an upgraded iMac with an M4 processor. Besides Macs, an iPad Mini 7 is also speculated to arrive with an early November release. Apple hasn’t announced an official release date yet.
Since Apple has a culture of secrecy, this magnitude of leak is extremely rare and questionable. This could be the most significant leak for Apple since the iPhone 4 prototype was leaked by a then-employee of the company, who accidentally left it behind at a bar in California. Of course, there will be serious questions about how all this happened, and we have to wait to see what Apple does in this case.
