Apple’s M5-powered Mac mini may debut in the coming days, possibly ahead of Apple’s September iPhone event, says Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman.
Mac mini’s demand has exploded in recent months due to the AI boom.
M5 Mac mini could arrive before iPhone 18 Pro
The last Mac mini refresh arrived in October 2024, with Apple introducing a smaller, compact design and its powerful M4 and M4 Pro chips. This year, amidst the AI boom and AI agents like OpenClaw, the Mac mini saw unprecedented demand.
Add in the soaring DRAM and NAND prices, and Apple phased out the entry-level $599 variant of the mini with 16GB of RAM and 256GB of storage in April. High-end configurations with increased memory and storage also faced extremely long shipping times.
Now, Gurman says Apple will refresh the Mac mini within the next few days. It will arrive ahead of the iPhone 18 Pro event rumored to take place in the second week of September.
While Apple “has tested versions with both the M5 and M6 generations,” it’s unclear which variant it will launch, says Gurman in the Bloomberg report.
Since the refresh will only involve a chip upgrade, Apple will likely announce the M5 Mac mini through a press release.
Mac mini may not get a Pro upgrade
Due to supply chain constraints, Apple may not offer the Mac mini with an M5 Pro chip. Instead, the refresh could be limited to the base M5 SoC. Even then, the upgrade should bring a noticeable performance boost, especially in AI workloads.
Given the DRAM and NAND supply crunch, Apple may only offer the M5 Mac mini in select memory configurations. It’s unclear if the refresh will come with a higher price tag. The current entry-level Mac mini with 512GB storage and 16GB of RAM costs $799.
If the M5 Mac mini arrives in August itself, it could be the last product to launch under Tim Cook’s leadership.
