M2 Mac mini

Apple authorized reseller B&H Photo has drummed up some speculation this morning about what new hardware we might see at the WWDC Apple keynote on Monday, alongside the usual iOS 16, macOS 13 and other software releases.

The reseller has set up placeholder product pages for an as-yet-unreleased M2 Mac mini (the M1 Mac mini debuted in October 2020) and a seemingly all-new ‘Mac mini tower‘ product, which may possibly be a reference to the new Apple Silicon Mac Pro …

Of course, this may possibly all be a big hoax. Website listings on Apple authorized resellers are often unreliable indicators. In general, Apple does not share details about its announcements with third-party partners until after the event is over. In the past, retailers have created placeholder pages for all sorts of Apple products that never came to pass.

That being said, many people do expect Apple to begin the next stage of Apple silicon on Monday, with the launch of the M2 chip.

This will most likely be seen inside as the chip powering a new-generation MacBook Air, which will also feature a redesigned enclosure and some new color options. But something like a spec-bumped Mac mini is not a giant leap. The M2 chip is expected to feature additional GPU cores compared to the M1, and use the CPU and GPU core designs found in the iPhone 13’s A15 chip, which translates to about 10% increased performance and significant power efficiency improvements.

The Mac mini tower product listing seems to suggest the device is powered by the M1 Pro chip. This is probably another indicator the information is falsified, or simply misleading. There have actually been some rumors before now that Apple was preparing an update to the Mac mini featuring a M1 Pro chip inside, but who knows what the ‘tower’ refers to.

What most people expect to see on Monday is the unveiling of a new Mac Pro. At least a sneak peek at the new machine and some details about the tech specs. In fact, Apple already acknowledged the new Mac Pro’s existence at the end of the March event, teasing ‘that leaves just one more product to go: Mac Pro, but that’s for another day‘. The Apple Silicon Mac Pro is not expected to go on sale until the end of the year.

WWDC kicks off on Monday at 10 AM Pacific. Alongside new Mac hardware, we expect to see Apple unveil major updates to all of its software platforms: iOS 16, macOS 13, iPadOS 16, watchOS 9, and tvOS 16.

WWDC 2022 is also Apple’s first in-person event since COVID, with media and press invited to watch the keynote videos on campus at Apple Park. Stay tuned to 9to5Mac for full coverage of all the announcements.

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