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Apple Reportedly Developing Larger iMac With Over 30-Inch Display
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You guys with 2017 imacs are complaining? i got a dang 2012 version and still waiting….
Plan: wait for 3nm m3 to come out, if by then still no firm “rumors“ on a release date for new imac, buy the m3 pro Mac mini and apple/Samsung monitor, put the Mac mini on the monitor and call it a day.
Plan: wait for 3nm m3 to come out, if by then still no firm “rumors“ on a release date for new imac, buy the m3 pro Mac mini and apple/Samsung monitor, put the Mac mini on the monitor and call it a day.
I take "engineering" decision to mean "can we actually build this", whereas a marketing/business decision is "if we build this can we generate net profitability over not building it" (or really meet the profitability hurdle). Having more versions of a product adds expense, and may not increase sales, or increase the average margin on each sale.
First, an actual 'leak' is more a 'fact' than your 3rd party declaration of what Gurman does and does not know. When he is being a 'reporter'/'journalist' then if someone at Apple tells him " there is product x" then it isn't a 'rumor' or 'reasonable predictions'. That person at Apple 'knows' and what they said is just being relayed to a larger audience. Could someone in Apple have also picked up something 3rd party and is also relaying. Possible. Could Apple have told some employees something with specs designed to ferret out leakers ( as opposed to exact product details). Possible. But that isn't really in the context of being 'believable' rumors. But, if someone said " x, y , z" then it is fact that they said 'x , y , z' ( even if they are ultimately mistaken about the product in longer term... they did make that utterance. )
Is Gurman collecting the facts from two independent sources and calling Apple to confirm this stuff? No. Calling Apple is a complete waste of time. (they aren't going to verify it even if entirely correct and most of the time even if it is entirely wrong. ). Two leakers saying the same thing likely doesn't happen early on. Toward the product release cycle's later stages when thousands's of folks know about the product, that gets more plausible.
While Gurman has been tossing out lots of 'filler' in most of his newsletters this one was structured more like the write ups that helped him build the good reputation he has with many.
"...
- New iMacs (codenamed J433 and J434) with 24-inch screens, like the current models. The company is also conducting early work on an iMac with a screen over 30 inches, I’m told.
So this isn't one of his "I believe that Apple will" , "Apple should ..." , "it would be nice if Apple did ..." newsletters. Unless the "I'm told" is "by some guy on twitter, macrumors... said ", then this is couched as a report/telling from someone at Apple. Presumably, the same person telling the codenames (an implicit "I'm told by source inside the company" ) . ( and if large screen iMac is very early, very likely doesn't want to relay the codename. If too few folks know the codename then that person will be much easier to find (and fire) . )
Because the 'power on' newsletter has to come out every week, most weeks there is NOT a relayed report directly from an Apple source. Leaks don't happen on a weekly basis. Especially from a company which fires folks for leaking and actively hunts them down.
I worked on 30" Apple Cinema Displays for years and really enjoyed that size screen.
Probably not. A major reason the MBA 15" exists is because in most of the PC laptop maketplace there are lots of affordable, 15" laptops. There is substantive demand for them outside the Mac ecosystem so little rational reason why they would not be a big seller inside the Mac ecosystem.
There are several large screen All-in-Ones in the Windows PC market , but mainly those have been following the iMac. Apple explicitly herded most of their desktop users into the iMac ( too weak Mini and price creep Mac Pro). Huge demand there to attach a computer to a > 30" screen. I'm not seeing it.
Dell ... nothing over 27" ( and nothing over 4K )
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Lenovo .. one of 18 ( and nothing over 4K )
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HP .. two of ten ( one 34" 5K (bigger pixels than iMac) , one 32" 1440 ( big pixels) )
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Non-integrated-display systems dominate their desktop line ups. That has side effect of creating a very large market for discrete displays. Single cable USB-C making docking displays more universal only expands that discrete display demand to the laptop market also.
The iMac Pro did sell relatively well at first. By end of 2019 , it was two years old. By 2020 it was three. But back in 2017- early 2019 timeframe the iMac Pro configurations were in the top 10 iMac configurations sold on B&H Photo.
AMD didn't deliver much appropriate for the iMac Pro thermal limits either. The Mac Pro 2019 sagged sales. The 2020 'regular' iMac getting 10 cores sagged it even further. So it got 'eaten' from both above and below in the line up while it sat bascially comatose on specs. The Intel Xeon W-2200 series was basically a rebadged and mildly overclocked W=2100 series. Apple didn't take it. The major 'feature' was cheaper CPUs and doubtful Apple was interested in decreasing the iMac Pro price point at all.
If the price point is higher than a mini/Mac Studio + Studio Display combo then most Studio Display owners probably won't feel anything. There already is a > 30 option they skipped; the XDR ( 32" ). Most skipped it because the Studio Display was more affordable. If that remains true they it 'same thing , different day'
If Apple sold a 32" iMac at $2,099 then yeah lots of folks would be pissed. But is Apple really going to do that?
Dell's 5K 32" IPS black monitor ( using a 'mainstream' panel) is about $3k. If Apple puts $0.6k of computers even into a chassic with that it is still a $3.6K starting point. If $1K parts ( bigger Max/Ultra SoC) than $4K. But would Apple really pick an 'off the shelf' panel to run with? Probably not.
If a bunch of competitors eventually show up for the Dell 6K 32" monitor that price will probably come down. Once the 3rd party monitor makes make the price go down just buying that instead will be an option. At one point Apple made printers. Now they do not. Apple tends to avoid markets where there is lots of downward pricing pressure.
Pretty good chance that Apple is going to use the large screen iMac the similar way they used the 27" Thunderbolt display. Just a mechanism to sell incrementally more display panels to get to better economies of scale. Only this time it probably is the XDR class monitor that they are looking to add incremental panel sales to. Either continue to sell the older one ( Apple like selling same panel for around 10 years ) or briging the unit cost down on a new one (that may have spiraled too high).
That's what I'm pretty sure will happen. The 27" Retina iMac was a strong seller for professionals and power users, especially after the whole 2013 "trashcan" Mac Pro fiasco. So much that Apple even responded by coming out with that iMac Pro in 2017.
I could see this new iMac Pro being very slightly thicker, and in addition to the Thunderbolt 4 ports, maybe have a built-in SD card slot and possibly a couple USB-A ports, so it's truly like an all-in-one version of the Mac Studio or even the high-end Mac mini.
Better late, later, latest than never?
One of the sadder developments in mid-21st century IT is the relegation to macOS and its hardware to the status of iOS' ugly stepsister.
One of the sadder developments in mid-21st century IT is the relegation to macOS and its hardware to the status of iOS' ugly stepsister.
Exactly. This is why I gave up on the larger iMac last week, and just purchased the Studio Display instead and planning on selling my 2020 Imac 27'. And Im happy about the choice I've made. I don't feel regret after reading this article.
Oh my goodness, these darned rumors keep me from ever buying a new iMac!
I've been holding off... Waiting and waiting and waiting for a larger version to be announced so I can replace my 10 year old, 27 inch model. I needed a new iMac three or four years ago! I finally told myself this year I will buy whatever the next model is even if it stays that disappointing 24 inches. And now this? What a headache, it never ends... All I will say is Apple has really messed up the upgrade cycle for me.
I've been holding off... Waiting and waiting and waiting for a larger version to be announced so I can replace my 10 year old, 27 inch model. I needed a new iMac three or four years ago! I finally told myself this year I will buy whatever the next model is even if it stays that disappointing 24 inches. And now this? What a headache, it never ends... All I will say is Apple has really messed up the upgrade cycle for me.
Probably OLED by the time this is released. 🤞🏻With ProMotion and mini-LED?
Maybe they held off on an "iMac Pro" because a larger, lower-priced mini-LED ProMotion display is still years away...
The iMac Pro was cut from much of the same 'cloth' as the MP 2013. About the same 400W power constraints. Limited internal upgrades ( unless pulled the seals off the iMac Pro there was none). Two high heat generating chip packages sharing a single thermal management system with different temperatures ( MP 2013 had three , but both more than one ). [ there were two fans in iMac Pro but still only one single output vent. So much so that needs to toss the RAM door to make the output vent bigger while still 'hiding' it behind the pedestal arm... because 'can't have any prominent visible ventilation. )
Leans heavily on Thunderbolt and one, and only one, internal drive.
Just about every issue that Apple talked about 'painting themselves into a corner' or 'not quite right' is still present in the iMac Pro. Only the iMP throws an embedded screen on top. (at least that would decoupled from the MP 2013).
Apple never really got 'off' the MP 2013 'train'. It basically went MP 2013 --> iMac Pro --> Mac Studio. It is basically still there with different superficial enclosure changes.
There is a large faction of folks who spin a story that Apple declared the MP 2013 a complete failure and Apple left it behind. That is just a self serving story; not really the truth at all. They just stopped calling it "mac pro".
They never left. And the notion that more Pros were shifting to laptops and all-in-ones over time was largely right then and now.
The title here is a bit overboard ( and bound to spark some heated discussion.. probably on purpose)
But story outlines some folks who have moved their workloads to very high in MBP. And others for which this new Mac Pro is a 'miss'.
https://www.theverge.com/23770770/apple-mac-pro-m2-ultra-2023-review
Thicker than the old iMac Pro? May or may not be necessary depending upon whether to put a Max or Ultra in it.
Thicker than the baseline design put down with the 2021 iMac 24" ( iPad on a stick ) would certainly be useful; if not necessary. The latest notion of the iMac is part of the impediment of doing a larger ( > 30" ) screen iMac.
SD card slot on the back wouldn't be as useful as on the side or on the front. But again, that would a deviation from the thinness politburo approved 2021 design. ( so thin had to eject the ethernet jack out of the system and push the headphone jack to the side ( because the jack assembly is deeper than he device is thick. ) . The current monitors have squared off edges. That would help put connectors on the side.
All plausible points. Thank you for taking the time. I guess ultimately, this means more options for us which is a good thing. Looking forward to seeing what is announced.Probably not. A major reason the MBA 15" exists is because in most of the PC laptop maketplace there are lots of affordable, 15" laptops. There is substantive demand for them outside the Mac ecosystem so little rational reason why they would not be a big seller inside the Mac ecosystem.
There are several large screen All-in-Ones in the Windows PC market , but mainly those have been following the iMac. Apple explicitly herded most of their desktop users into the iMac ( too weak Mini and price creep Mac Pro). Huge demand there to attach a computer to a > 30" screen. I'm not seeing it.
Dell ... nothing over 27" ( and nothing over 4K )
All In One - Desktop Computers | Dell USA
All In One - Desktop Computers and All-in-One PCs - Shop Dell Desktops Computers & All-in-One PCs. Discover the latest XPS, Inspiron, OptiPlex and Precision desktops or Gaming PCs. Free shipping & returns.www.dell.com
Lenovo .. one of 18 ( and nothing over 4K )
Shop Desktops for Business, Gaming & Students
Find top desktops or all-in-ones for work, school, gaming & more at Lenovo âï¸ Buy or build a model that suits your needs âï¸ FREE SHIPPINGwww.lenovo.com
HP .. two of ten ( one 34" 5K (bigger pixels than iMac) , one 32" 1440 ( big pixels) )
HP Desktop Computers and All-in-One PCs
For work, play, gaming, or entertainment, there’s an HP desktop or all-in-one just for you. Learn more about our HP desktops and all-in-ones here.www.hp.com
Non-integrated-display systems dominate their desktop line ups. That has side effect of creating a very large market for discrete displays. Single cable USB-C making docking displays more universal only expands that discrete display demand to the laptop market also.
The iMac Pro did sell relatively well at first. By end of 2019 , it was two years old. By 2020 it was three. But back in 2017- early 2019 timeframe the iMac Pro configurations were in the top 10 iMac configurations sold on B&H Photo.
AMD didn't deliver much appropriate for the iMac Pro thermal limits either. The Mac Pro 2019 sagged sales. The 2020 'regular' iMac getting 10 cores sagged it even further. So it got 'eaten' from both above and below in the line up while it sat bascially comatose on specs. The Intel Xeon W-2200 series was basically a rebadged and mildly overclocked W=2100 series. Apple didn't take it. The major 'feature' was cheaper CPUs and doubtful Apple was interested in decreasing the iMac Pro price point at all.
If the price point is higher than a mini/Mac Studio + Studio Display combo then most Studio Display owners probably won't feel anything. There already is a > 30 option they skipped; the XDR ( 32" ). Most skipped it because the Studio Display was more affordable. If that remains true they it 'same thing , different day'
If Apple sold a 32" iMac at $2,099 then yeah lots of folks would be pissed. But is Apple really going to do that?
Dell's 5K 32" IPS black monitor ( using a 'mainstream' panel) is about $3k. If Apple puts $0.6k of computers even into a chassic with that it is still a $3.6K starting point. If $1K parts ( bigger Max/Ultra SoC) than $4K. But would Apple really pick an 'off the shelf' panel to run with? Probably not.
If a bunch of competitors eventually show up for the Dell 6K 32" monitor that price will probably come down. Once the 3rd party monitor makes make the price go down just buying that instead will be an option. At one point Apple made printers. Now they do not. Apple tends to avoid markets where there is lots of downward pricing pressure.
Pretty good chance that Apple is going to use the large screen iMac the similar way they used the 27" Thunderbolt display. Just a mechanism to sell incrementally more display panels to get to better economies of scale. Only this time it probably is the XDR class monitor that they are looking to add incremental panel sales to. Either continue to sell the older one ( Apple like selling same panel for around 10 years ) or briging the unit cost down on a new one (that may have spiraled too high).
C'mon now. 218ppi vs 140ppi would definitely be noticeable.
And that's not even counting the 4K vertical resolution which macOS scaling is notoriously bad at.
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I agree, I was going to buy the current Imac 24 inch with the M1 chip. Then I heard the rumors about them coming out with the M3 chip version of the 24inch Imac. So, I thought I'll wait. I'm not real keen on the 24inch display though. I'm currently using a Dell XPS Desktop with a 27 inch Dell monitor. My desktop is the last of my devices to transition over to Apple. I bought the new 16 inch Macbook Pro last year. I thought I'll go with the Mac Mini and the Studio Display. Getting the Mac Mini with it spec out at 16gb of memory and 1tb of storage is $1299 at Apple. The Studio Display just standard glass is $1599. And the keyboard and mouse. After tax, I'm at $3359. The current Imac 24 inch. If you spec it out at 16gb of memory and 1tb of storage. It's $2224 after tax. Now, this report of 30inch Imac. But now I get to wait longer to see if it's actually true. Or wait and see what the new 24inch Imac's are like. And deal with a smaller screen.
2012 iMac... hehehe. Don't worry... You know what's even funnier? I have a 2011
I've upgraded RAM / 860 EVO Sata SSD....
Thankfully, it still functions well, has a nice screen despite being 1440 and better speakers than the newer iMacs.
I love this machine but its time to upgrade.
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And I expect the majority of his sources are in the supply chain and I would not at all be surprised if those sources are reporting on what are actually engineering samples or production validation samples that may or may not actually reference a planned shipping product.
Does everyone remember the "square" Apple Watch 7 rumors in 2021? I bet that was an engineering sample of an Apple Watch Ultra and the design was refined over the intervening year into what was released in September 2022.
A coworker and I were just talking about the lack of a 27-inch iMac yesterday. He's on an older intel 27" iMac that is getting long in the tooth and we were discussing what would replace it. A Macbook Pro + Studio display? Probably, but that's really expensive and he doesn't actually have a need for a laptop. A Mac Studio + Studio display? Even more expensive and doesn't net him anything. A 27-inch (or 30-inch) iMac would be the right product for him. Probably for me too!