The will-they-won’t-they saga around Apple’s likelihood of releasing a refresh of the 24-inch iMac anytime soon took another twist on Sunday after prominent Apple analyst Mark Gurman suggested the machine could land at the end of this month.
It follows a report last week via another Apple specialist, Ming-Chi Kuo, who claimed that the updated iMac won’t appear until 2024.
Writing in his weekly Power On newsletter for Bloomberg, Gurman notes how the iMac hasn’t been updated since Apple launched the M1 version in April 2021, more than 900 days ago.
He said that according to his sources, Apple is planning a “Mac-centered product launch around the end of this month,” adding, “That could be its chance to announce this model.” Specifically, Gurman said that the most likely date for an announcement will be on either October 30 or 31. The newsletter failed to include potential specs for the new iMac, though he’s previously stated that he expects it to come with Apple’s M3 chip.
The Bloomberg reporter added that Apple is running low on 24-inch iMacs as well as the 13-inch MacBook Pro and high-end MacBook Pros and suggests refreshes of these laptops could also be announced at the end of this month. “If you try to order the products from Apple’s website, several configurations won’t arrive until mid-November,” he wrote. “That several-week delay is a clear sign that something is about to happen.”
Gurman said he realizes that Apple released refreshed MacBook Pros in early 2023, describing an additional update the same year as “unusual, but not inconceivable.”
Discussing the larger, pro version of the iMac, Gurman said he believes that Apple is still working on it and that it’s most likely to arrive in late 2024 or the following year with a 32-inch display – 5 inches bigger than the largest iMac to date.
On the subject of new iPads, the Bloomberg reporter said they’re unlikely to land until “around next March,” so you’ll have to sit tight if you’re waiting for one of those.
Keep in mind that this is one person’s view, though Gurman has called it right in the past when it comes to Apple news. Regarding these iMac predictions, we’ll find out in just a few days’ time if he’s got it right again.
