Amidst widespread rumors of a looming new iPad-esque iMac, supplies of Apple’s current 27-inch iMac continue to decline with mid- and high-end stock configs now carrying shipping estimates that reach into September.
Rumors of an imminent iMac update date back to March when reliable leaker CoinX indicated that one was coming “soon.” A few weeks later, word of a new 23-inch iMac coming in the second half of the year surfaced, while Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman noted that a “substantial” iMac refresh potentially including a redesign would be coming later in the year.
As WWDC approached, occasional leaker Sonny Dickson claimed that a redesigned iMac with “iPad Pro design language” would be arriving at the conference, but it failed to materialize, leaving considerable uncertainty about when we should expect an update to arrive…
With Apple rumored to be releasing an Apple Silicon-based iMac before the end of the year, it would seem this last Intel version should come sooner rather than later. Even a refresh right now would leave a relatively short update cycle unless the Apple Silicon-based iMac coming at the end of the year is intended to be sold alongside Intel-based models during a transition period.
MacDailyNews Take: The coexistence of Intel and ARM-based Macs will be very interesting. Will iMac be the first to make the leap before the end of this year? Will customers eschew Intel-based Macs or gobble them up for the two years or so Apple will take to transition the Mac? Certainly some percentage of Mac customers will choose the less efficient, hotter, and slower Intel Macs because they’re forced to run some Windows-only application(s), but others will want the speed, battery life, and other benefits that only Apple silicon Macs will be able to deliver. It’ll be interesting to watch — and for Apple to manage Mac inventory — during this transition!
They’ll all come out in an October event: 23″ iMac ARM faster than current, 27″ iMac INTEL, much faster, 27″ iMac Pro INTEL much much faster. If you want the blazing speed you’ll opt for 27″ iMac or iMac Pro.
Why do you think the ARM Macs will be faster than iNTEL Macs?
I think they have a chance be faster than Intel Macs because of all the specific processing units Apple can build into an SoC. In theory, Apple could build Apple Silicon with a dozen power cores and many billions more transistors on a 5nm architecture. As I said, in theory. Obviously, bragging rights can only be earned on benchmarked processors. iPad Pros do have benchmark scores close to i7 processors without active cooling, so IF Apple can scale up it’s processors, there’s a great possibility Apple can surpass Intel chips using less watts. I’m not saying they will. I’m only saying it’s possible. I’m hoping Apple can do it while keeping cases thin and battery life high on laptops.
I don’t think they’ll be faster than all intel chips, but they will be faster than the chips in the current generation 21.5” iMacs. That’s a guarantee.
Where’s the benchmark tests for the Apple silicon-based iMacs? There are none. So why are the “benefits” being touted by MDN?
Well there was the first one last week but in all honesty it didn’t tell us much, what with running on already outmoded silicon and software under emulation but enough to suggest potential. They will want developers to make sure their software can work on relatively conservative set ups upon launch so that higher specs will deal with all eventualities on that front. Fact is only when the commercial machines are running the right software using well matched installed applications with the right benchmark setup and the final silicon and hardware so all things are coming together, can any true judgment really be made. So you are going to have to wait a good while yet I suspect to make a true judgement as for now and the following weeks it will be mostly unreliable results seeping out based on at best informed guesses of how they will perform.
Yes they will certainly sell them alongside each other for quite some time. It will not only feed those who need particular older software to function but those who will need a considerable period of checking out the pros and cons of the Arm versions and their performance and compatibility before making the plunge. If it comes out now I wouldn’t even be surprised if there is a further update for it down the line, a lot depending one suspects on apple assessing the relative acceptance sales of the machines. They can hardly afford a big mistake in timing to cut off the tap of the machine buyers want so will base it on the evidence for a year or so Im sure. I am sure however assuming that the transformation is effective that few will be wanting an Intel version a couple years down the line especially considering what the Arm processors will be like by then by comparison.
The so called news that shipping estimates are now into September are FALSE. If you do a mock purchase of a BTO imac 27 and get to the checkout the shipping dates are in first week of August not September. People are trying to create news where there is none.
I just checked Australian Store and it’s saying around 14th of September.
MDN: “…but others will want the speed, battery life, and other benefits…”
What the hell does battery life have to do with an Apple Silicon based iMac?
When Apple’s processors have as many cores, as much cache, and as many memory channels, to reach the same performance levels as Intel processors, then Apple’s chips will have the same yield, cost the same, burn as much power (can’t avoid the physics) and still be incompatible with a large segment of software.
No thanks.