Gurman: Apple’s M4 Macs Might Debut with 16GB of RAM as Default for the First Time

Apple's forthcoming M4 Macs are expected to break new ground by offering 16GB of RAM as the standard configuration for the first time, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.

Gurman: M4 Macs Likely to Start with 16GB RAM

Mark Gurman of Bloomberg has reported that Apple's next entry-level Macs may come standard with 16GB of RAM, up from 8GB. This is the end of an era for Apple, which has persisted for the past eight years or more.

The 13-inch MacBook Air's base model has had 8GB of RAM as standard since 2016, when Apple raised the standard from 4GB. Although this has generally worked well, there has been an uptick in complaints about it in the past few years. Nevertheless, that may be about to change.

M4 Macs to Support Up to 32GB of RAM

"All have either 16 or 32 gigabytes of memory," says Gurman of the M4 Macs that were examined. Accordingly, prospective purchasers of Macs may be able to get 16 GB of RAM without shelling out $200 for the update. The M4 processor would also have a new limit of 32 GB of RAM. There is a current limit of 24GB of RAM for the M3.

Furthermore, he notes that certain setups that have been evaluated begin with an 8-core CPU and 8-core GPU that are not of the highest tier. This differs slightly from the M4 chip debuted in the iPad Pro, which has a 10-core GPU and 9-core CPU for the lower storage options. A fully unlocked M4 processor in a Mac, similar to the one in an iPad Pro, will feature a 10-core CPU and a 10-core GPU.

More M4 Macs to Arrive in 2025

While 9to5Mac shares that we'll surely hear more about the M4 Pro and M4 Max in due course, Gurman doesn't go into detail about them here. The MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and iMac are set to make their debut later this year as part of Apple's M4 Mac portfolio. It is anticipated that the remaining lineup members will be added in 2025.

It's important to remember that this is all conjectural, and based on what we can see in the developer log at the moment; Apple may still decide to sell with less than 16GB of RAM. Nevertheless, 9tto5Mac is quite optimistic! A norm of 16 GB of RAM would not be too far-fetched, given Apple Intelligence's demands for greater memory.