Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has dropped the news that Apple plans to wait until the M3 processor is launched before updating the iMac.
The 24-inch iMac, which was last refreshed in 2021 with a rainbow-like choice of colors and an M1 Pro, was the last iMac model to get an upgrade, with Apple discontinuing the later 27-inch Intel model at the same time.
Image Credit – Apple
“I haven’t seen anything to indicate there will be a new iMac until the M3 chip generation, which won’t arrive until the tail end of this year at the earliest or next year,” wrote Gurman in his “Postgame Q&A” as part of his weekly Power On Newsletter.
“So if you want to stick with the iMac, you’ll just have to sit tight.”
Some may consider expecting an M3 chip by this year, when the iMac hasn’t had an update with the M2 as somewhat Blue Sky thinking.
But this is Gurman, we’re talking about here, who has an uncanny reputation for getting the inside scope of what Apple is planning.
Mockup of M3
Skipping a generation is a bold move and may indicate that the effects of the Worldwide chip shortage are lingering, causing Apple to consider giving the M2 chip a shorter life span in favor of the 3nm M3.
Gurman doesn’t mention the shortage, but he also states above that there isn’t any evidence that Apple will stay with the M2 platform for very long, especially if they release an M2 Extreme Mac Pro between now and then.
Couple that with AMD bragging that their latest laptop chips are 20 percent faster than M2, and Apple may want to recapture the speed throne by not sitting on its laurels.
Besides, it would position the iMac nicely to be one of the first products to receive the M3, for eager iMac owners who want to upgrade.
Gurman has stated that the benefit of waiting until the M3 Chip is that Apple will have fully transitioned to a 3nm processor manufacturing technique which will provide Apple products with a notably stingy, electrical footprint.
This may have been the chief reason why Apple chose to delay bringing a new, larger iMac to the M2 platform at this point because it uses a 5nm process.
Apple also plans to launch the M3 in a new MacBook Air, sometime in the latter half of 2023, perhaps even with an announcement at the Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
Other models being looked at for an M3 refresh are a 13-inch Macbook Pro, and a Mac Mini. That device, however, was recently announced with an M2 chip at the end of 2022.
Perhaps by then, Apple will have perfected larger miniLED screens in order to release a 27-inch iMac Pro with the M3 chip, but that’s just speculation at this point.
For those who follow Gurman’s advice, it’s probably a good idea to keep one’s powder dry on an iMac upgrade until the picture becomes a bit more clear.
[source: MacRumors]
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