Updated 24-inch iMac may not arrive until late 2023

Apple's update to the 24-inch iMac may not arrive until the M3 generation, a report claims, one that could wait until the end of 2023 to turn up.

The 24-inch iMac was launched by Apple in May 2021, but it has yet to receive any major updates to its specification. Approaching two years after its introduction, it seems the wait could end up being a lot longer, with Apple apparently timing it for the M3 chip launch.

According to Mark Gurman in his "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg on Sunday, Apple is expected to completely skip the M2 generation of chips for the updated iMac. Instead, a launch is anticipated for the M3.

"I haven't seen anything to indicate there will be a New iMac until the M3 chip generation," writes Gurman, which means a launch would happen near the end of 2023 at the earliest, or early in 2024.

Current rumors puts Apple at shipping an M3-based MacBook Air in the second half of 2023, as part of what would be the fastest upgrade cycle for an Apple Silicon Mac so far.

Gurman previously said in April 2022 that an M3 iMac, as well as a new iMac Pro, were on the way but scheduled for a 2023 launch. By July, Gurman doubled down on the M3 claims, specifically mentioning a "larger-screened iMac aimed at the professional market" that could use an M3 Pro or M3 Max, but that there was still a long wait for their arrival.

14 Comments

dutchlord 269 comments · 7 Years

About 1 year ago

Waiting for the 27 inch M3 iMac

charlesn 1126 comments · 11 Years

This makes sense. If you need a faster desktop than the current fastest iMacs, Apple has you well-covered with the Mac Mini and Studio models. (And it's not as if current iMacs are slow for standard business applications.) Plus, we know the standard M2 is not a big leap over the standard M1.

The Macbook Air M3 rumor gets a poop emoji from me. No way will Apple upgrade the first total Air redesign in 14 years less than 18 months after it debuted.

rods5 6 comments · 18 Years

I too am waiting for a M3 iMac 27” or larger all in one Mac. The Mac Mini is OK, but what other 27” or larger display will be good to great and not cost you a arm and a leg like the Apple Studio display @ $1,599, which is the cost of an iMac all by itself.

And the Mac Studio starts at $1,999, plus the Studio display, brings the total to $3,598 for a entry version of the Mac Studio.

Where is the M2 or M3 27” iMac? I want two of them! I am waiting!!! What say you, Apple?

9secondkox2 3103 comments · 8 Years

Probably won’t upgrade my max until the larger iMac is relaunched. My last iMac 5k was a dream.

The studio is ok in a Mac mini on steroids kind of way, but nothing does it for me like a beastly all in one made by apple.

With the stopgap studio tiding things over for a Mac Pro launch and the Mac mini getting a decent update, I can see a path forward for the iMac where the 24” and a 32” or so iMac are announced at the same time late this year on the M3 SOC family. The 24 will get a nice m3 and m3 pro update whereas the iMac would do nicely with 3 nm m3 max and ultra chips. The m2 seems destined for a shorter cycle? a Mac Pro debuting the x series for no compromise desktop performance in both cpu and GPU arenas would be the exclamation point. No more Intel and Nvidia beating apple at the extreme high end.

Got a feeling that late ‘23 and early ‘24 will be a nice resurgence for Mac fans.

macxpress 5902 comments · 16 Years

dutchlord said:

Waiting for the 27 inch M3 iMac

It is interesting how Apple doesn't have a standard 27" consumer iMac. Maybe someday they'll release a 27" M3 iMac with maybe a M3 Pro option on the higher tier.