The Mac mini (never born) with an iPod dock

Apple thought of a solution to synchronize the music player with the computer without using the cable

Photo: Twitter @DongleBookPro There is never a shortage of rumors about Apple's future devices, much less surprises about projects that never hit the shelves. In fact, according to some photographs published by the @DongleBookPro profile on Twitter and then highlighted by MacRumors, most likely in the past the Cupertino company was thinking of adding an iPod dock directly on the Mac mini body.

Perhaps a first attempt to allow users to recharge the battery and synchronize the device with the iTunes library without the use of the USB cable, as we can see from the images, the prototype in question shows a first generation Mac mini - the one released in 2005 - with a notch on the top panel that houses the old 30-pin connector: the predecessor of the current Lightning.

EVT Mac Mini, with iPod dock. Totally scraped project that never saw the light of day pic.twitter.com/fSm1m31fhX

- Dongle (@DongleBookPro) August 22, 2020



However, if this project only a prototype remained and it never arrived on the market, a possible reason could have been the reduced compatibility with devices released in the future. In fact, the present slot - with left alignment - would have allowed the housing of only the first iPod nano and perhaps the second generation model since, subsequently, various changes were applied to the design of the music player.

Although we have no official confirmation regarding the provenance of the prototype shown, the same source published during the first days of August some photographs of an alleged first generation iPod Touch with black body and glossy finish: it too never arrived in our pockets.