If you hadn’t noticed, Apple is increasingly focusing on mobile devices in recent years. The iPhone, iPad, and MacBook range continue to receive regular updates. On the desktop side, development moves at a much slower pace, and as such, it has a few Apple customers questioning whether the Mac mini is now a dead product line?

It’s a question well worth asking when you consider the last time the Mac mini’s internals were updated was back in 2014. If you purchase a Mac mini today, it will still ship with a Haswell Core i5 or Core i7 processor inside, up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM, Intel HD 5000 graphics, and a hard drive or Fusion Drive remain options.

Yes, in computing terms the Mac mini is most definitely old, but it’s not dead. As MacRumors(Opens in a new window) reports, Tim Cook confirmed as much in a response to a letter yesterday from Mac mini fan Krar who asked if the tiny Mac was going to get an update soon. Cook responded by saying that “while it is not time to share any details, we do plan for the Mac mini to be an important part of our product line going forward.”

Although short on details, what we can ascertain from Cook’s response is that the Mac mini will certainly be getting a refresh, but it isn’t happening soon. Apple’s desktop PC focus is going to be elsewhere for the next few months at least. Remember, the iMac Pro is set to launch in December and then Apple is planning a major Mac Pro refresh next year.

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So the Mac mini will be refreshed, but it seems likely that won’t happen until after the new Mac Pro launches. I wouldn’t be surprised to be kept waiting until the second half of 2018 for fresh Mac mini news.