Apple’s new Mac Mini might be coming with some design compromises

Apple’s Mac mini might finally be getting a new design, but it could come at the cost of some compromises, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman in his Power On newsletter. According to him, the upcoming M4 Mac mini will likely be ditching USB-A ports in favor of a radically reduced chassis size.

If the latest Mac mini M4 rumors are true, a few different versions of the little desktop PC are incoming, headlined by the M4 Pro variant which, by all accounts, could be the most premium Mac mini yet. Gurman says this model could ship as soon as October, and while you’ll have to do without USB-A ports, it’s still packing a whopping five USB-C ports as well as an ethernet port, HDMI port and headphone jack.

That’s great for a device that’s rumored to be very similarly-sized to an Apple TV, and you won’t even have to carry around a separate power brick because, according to Gurman, it’s going to have its own internal power supply.

With the iPhone 16’s unveiling coming soon, Gurman states that neither the M4 or M4 Pro Mac mini will be announced at the September 9 ‘It’s Glowtime’ Apple event, instead being unveiled at least a month later – so we won’t know anything for sure until October at the earliest.

A worthy sacrifice?

It has been far too long since the Mac Mini’s design has seen changes – the devices in our 2012 Apple Mac mini and Apple Mac mini (2023) reviews look nearly identical – as stated by Gurman, the last time we saw a proper Mac mini design refresh was almost 15 years ago.

While some users might think it’s a shame to go without USB-A ports, we think it’s more than worth it. If it’s true that the M4 Mac mini will be the size of an Apple TV, that will make it half as small as the 2023 model – for context, an Apple TV’s dimensions are 93 x 93 x 31 mm (3.66 x 3.66 x 1.2 inches) compared to the M2 Mac mini’s 197 x 197 x 35.8 mm (7.75 x 7.75 x 1.41 inches).

Moreover, USB-C is now quite standard across devices, but docks and hubs are readily available, so you should still be fine if you’re not ready to ditch your USB-A keyboard or mouse just yet. With the world now moving away from the old-school USB port, we wouldn’t be surprised to see 2025’s Mac Pro and Mac Studio go without, too.