Apple drops a major hint that new desktop Mac models are coming soon

With Apple’s annual WWDC 2023 event rapidly approaching, there’s a lot of speculation about new hardware that could be unveiled alongside the usual wealth of software updates – and a major hint in that direction has now been dropped by Apple itself.

As spotted by developer Nicolás Álvarez (opens in new tab) (via 9to5Mac (opens in new tab)), the code inside Apple’s own Find My app for macOS is now referencing three unknown Mac models, suggesting launches in the not-too-distant future. The names in the code don’t tell us much about these Macs though: they’re referred to as Mac14,8, Mac14,13, and Mac14,14.

It’s a big clue that refreshes are on the way, and most likely for the iMac, the Mac Studio, or the Mac Pro – or perhaps a combination of these Mac lines. From these snippets of code alone, it’s not clear how many new computers we should be expecting.

What to expect

In the past, Apple has used the “Mac 14,x” identifier to refer to Macs running the M2 chip, which would suggest that these new models aren’t going to introduce an M3 chip upgrade. That would put a new Apple iMac out of the running, according to previous rumors.

The Apple Mac mini already got a major upgrade at the start of this year, and we haven’t heard much in the way of leaks around a 2023 version of the Apple Mac Studio – it made its debut in March 2022 with an M1 chip, so it’s possible that a new model could see the light of day before the end of the year.

Perhaps the Mac most likely to get a refresh next is the Mac Pro: there have been rumors in that direction for several months now, and as we’ve previously pointed out, a new Mac Pro is well overdue with the current model debuting in 2019. It could even show up with its own special M2 Extreme chip.

Analysis: buy with caution

One of the reasons that we diligently report hardware leaks and rumors here on TechRadar is to give you a little bit of extra guidance when you’re thinking about buying new devices – you don’t really want to buy a new computer if it’s about to be replaced.

That’s particularly true with Apple, which doesn’t tend to reduce the prices of its hardware devices over time, even when a refresh is imminent. For example, we wouldn’t expect the iPhone 14 to drop in price until the iPhone 15 is official.

With that in mind it’s perhaps sensible to hold off on buying a new iMac, Mac Studio or Mac Pro for the next few months if you’re thinking about upgrading. Of course the current models are all perfectly fine – but faster versions could be about to appear.

It’s not altogether clear whether or not we’ll hear any Mac announcements at WWDC, which starts on June 5, but by then we may well have a clearer idea about what Apple is planning for the rest of the year.

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Dave is a freelance tech journalist who has been writing about gadgets, apps and the web for more than two decades. Based out of Stockport, England, on TechRadar you’ll find him covering news, features and reviews, particularly for phones, tablets and wearables. Working to ensure our breaking news coverage is the best in the business over weekends, David also has bylines at Gizmodo, T3, PopSci and a few other places besides, as well as being many years editing the likes of PC Explorer and The Hardware Handbook.