M4 MacBook Pro production appears well underway, as launch expected soon

We’re expecting Apple to launch the M4 MacBook Pro by the end of the month, and supply-chain reports appear to corroborate this.

Revenue and shipment reports from three Mac suppliers suggest that production is well underway, as Apple stockpiles machines ready for launch …

Anticipated schedule for M4 Macs

Apple now appears to be on an annual upgrade cycle for Macs, and the M3 MacBook Pro and iMac models were launched at the “Scary Fast” event in October of last year.

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported back in the summer that the anticipated launch schedule for M4 Macs was:

• MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac mini “later this year”
• MacBook Air, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro in 2025

Since then, Gurman narrowed this down to an October launch, with the machines going on sale on November 1st.

It’s worth noting that he was wrong on one point: he expected an Apple event this month which would include the iPad mini 7. Instead, the company announced the new iPad mini in a press release.

It’s now unclear whether there will be an October event, or simply press release announcements for M4 Macs. However, the iPad mini update was a rather small one, making a low-key announcement appropriate, so this doesn’t necessarily rule out a Mac-specific event.

M4 MacBook Pro production report

Digitimes reports that key Mac assembler Compal significantly increased production in September, which would be consistent with readying stock for an October or November launch. This was supported by two Mac component suppliers also reporting increased revenue last month.

Apple is expected to unveil new MacBook Pro models equipped with the latest M4 chip in October, which could boost related component shipments. This trend is evident in the revenue reports from component manufacturers such as Jarllytec and Shin Zu Shing for September. Quanta also saw its September notebook shipments rise to 4.9 million units, reflecting a 13% increase over August.

We likely already know the specs

There’s growing evidence that the claimed leaks of an M4 MacBook Pro box, and subsequent unboxing video, are real.

There was some hesitation over the box showing older wallpaper, but this turned out to also be the case for the iPad mini 7, effectively removing one source of doubt.

We said at the time that the specs were credible, so we may now know exactly what to expect:

• 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU (up from the M3’s 8-core CPU)
• 16GB RAM (up from 8GB)
• 512GB storage
• Three Thunderbolt 4 ports (up from two on the base model)

Image: Michael Bower/9to5Mac