Key Takeaways
- The 24-inch iMac refresh, featuring an M3 chip, is now expected to happen in 2024, delaying previous rumors of a 2023 release.
- A new 32-inch iMac with a mini-LED display is predicted to arrive in 2025, likely replacing the iMac Pro.
- The M3 chip, based on TSMC’s 3nm fabrication process, may also be used in new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models, as well as a potential Mac mini update.
The 24-inch iMac has been around since 2021 and sports an Apple-designed M1 chip. The latest Macs run M2-series silicon and we’re already hearing plenty of rumors that suggest an updated M3-series is on the way soon. But anyone holding off buying a 24-inch iMac until the new M3 version arrives is going to have to wait a little while longer according to a new report.
That report claims that while there were initially rumours that the iMac would be refreshed before the end of 2023, that now seems unlikely to be the case. As a result, it’s going to be a case of playing the waiting game.
2024 is the new 2023
This is all according to the supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo who took to X, the social network previously known as Twitter, to dash any hopes of a 2023 iMac refresh.
Writing there, Kuo simply said that the 24-inch iMac refresh will happen “in 2024” while an all-new iMac with a 32-inch mini-LED display will arrive in 2025. That’s likely to be the Mac that replaces the iMac Pro – a product that has been dead and buried for some time now.
This generally marries up with what Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has been saying, of course, and while Kuo doesn’t say which chip will be used Gurman previously reported that an M3 with an 8-core CPU and 10-core GPU would be used. The chip itself will also be based on TSMC’s newest 3nm fabrication process, just like the 17 Pro that currently powers the iPhone 15 Pro.
The M3 chip will eventually also make an appearance in new 13-inch MacBook Pro and 13-inch MacBook Air laptops, while a new Mac mini isn’t beyond the realms of possibility, either. Beyond that, we can expect the M3 Pro, M3 Max, and M3 Ultra chips to debut in more capable Macs like the Mac Studio and higher-end MacBook Pros.
