With the M4 Mac lineup, Apple will be doing something it hasn’t in over a decade

Seemingly, for the first time in forever, Apple will be updating every single Mac with an M4 chip, presuming rumors hold correct. There have been a number of times where this has been close, but it hasn’t happened anytime in the past decade, at least.

Earlier this fall, Apple introduced the first Macs with M4: MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini. There were a number of noteworthy upgrades, including more (and faster) Thunderbolt ports, nano-texture display options, and Center Stage camera upgrades.

These refreshes covered a large chunk of the Mac lineup, only leaving MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, MacBook Air will receive M4 in the spring, whereas Mac Studio and Mac Pro will receive it by the middle of 2025. So, presuming that holds up, every Mac in the lineup will be up to date.

Historical Mac refreshes

There haven’t been many times where every Mac in the lineup has stayed up to date. We were pretty close with M1, where almost every Mac received that over the course of around 18 months – except for the Mac Pro. In fact, since the Mac Pro is refreshed so infrequently, we have to use that as our key indicator.

The last Mac Pro refresh was in 2023, receiving M2 Ultra. Most Macs received the M2 family of chips, with MacBook Air and 13″ MacBook Pro kicking it off at WWDC22, Mac mini and MacBook Pro following up in January 2023, and Mac Studio & Mac Pro finishing off at WWDC23. However, there was no iMac refresh with M2, creating an imperfect cycle.

Going back even further, 2019 – when we got our first look at the current Mac Pro design. That was also another year where Apple refreshed most Macs, with the iMac (both sizes) kicking it off early in the year, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro joining mid year, and the all-new 16″ MacBook Pro and subsequent Mac Pro towards the end of the year.

However, there was no iMac Pro or Mac mini refresh, once again making 2019 an imperfect cycle. Even if you counted the Mac mini for that year, since it was pretty late in 2018, the lack of iMac Pro refresh would invalidate it.

I could continue to go in detail, but I’ll keep it brief. The last time every Mac was updated in a rolling 12 month period would’ve been 2013, when Apple introduced the trashcan Mac Pro, and also updated the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini within a year.

Wrap up

So, assuming rumors hold up, the M4 will be the first time in over a decade where Apple has refreshed every single Mac. MacBook Air seems like a lock, and so does Mac Studio and Mac Pro. Let’s just hope Apple doesn’t change any plans, and we should be golden.

What do you think of Apple’s M4 Mac lineup? Let us know in the comments.

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