24-inch iMac
A brand new report stating that configure-to-order iMac fashions have lengthy lead occasions is firing up hypothesis that an replace is imminent, however as has been the case for 5 years, there isn’t any actual correlation between lengthy lead occasions and updates.
A report on Friday has taken a take a look at the supply of Apple Silicon iMacs. The report accurately factors out that configure to order iMacs have a couple of month of lead time earlier than supply.
Sadly, the report by the usually well-informed Macotakara then instantly jumps to conclusions about it, and suggests {that a} New iMac with a M2 and M2 Professional processor is imminent.
Whereas an iMac refresh earlier than the top of the 12 months could also be taking place, the conclusion drawn is a case of a maybe-correct conclusion drawn from dangerous information.
Apple’s M1 iMac was launched on Could 21, 2021, so it has been a while since its introduction. Up to now, regardless of a protracted string of rumors about it, it has not acquired an M2 replace, when all the things else in Apple’s Mac line has.
Nonetheless, the inference {that a} configure-to-order long-lead time factors to an imminent refresh is flawed. Lead occasions of M1 iMacs that sport customized configurations have been related since November 2022, with lead occasions generally weeks longer than current on 9 events within the final 11 months.
Each primary configuration is out there for fast cargo or pick-up from Apple retail. And among the configure-to-order SKUs can be found for pick-up from an area Apple Retailer, with what number of obtainable typically proportional to the general gross sales quantity of the shop.
iMac has been a back-to-school pc for a while
Apple hasn’t had a fall iMac launch since 2014. More moderen updates had been in June 2017, March 2019, August 2020 for the final Intel iMacs and April 2021 for Apple Silicon. As of late, the iMac has principally been a “again to highschool” pc, and never a Christmas season one.
The iMac Professional shipped in December 2017, however was beforehand introduced on the 2017 WWDC.
The rear of the 24-inch iMac.
Whereas Apple may launch an M2 iMac at any time and make logical sense, there are claims that it’s going to as a substitute skip the M2 era completely and be one of many earliest M3 gadgets.
24-inch iMac hypothesis has been occurring for a very long time
Rumors of an M2 24-inch iMac return to February 2022, with hypothesis that Apple was going to launch a M2 mannequin to match the remainder of the vary. Over 18 months later, that prediction has failed to come back true.
A mere two months later, the rumor shifted to imagine {that a} M3 iMac was on the way in which. That, clearly, additionally hasn’t occurred.
The rumor mill at this level has principally coalesced across the prediction that M3 processors aren’t coming till early 2024.