Apple started selling the iMac Pro in December 2017, although it was only unveiled five years ago at WWDC 2017. After the company announced that it was going to phase out the Mac Pro in March 2021, you might be wondering what will happen next. with the iMac Pro.
Well, here comes the surprise: it seems that the iMac Pro would not have its days numbered after all. There are reports that Apple could bring it back to life by launching a new model. What does the arrival of the Mac Studio mean for these rumours?
Read on to discover more.
Will Apple release a new iMac Pro in 2022?
Rumors have been circulating for some time that Apple is working on a new iMac with a miniLED display and ProMotion technology. In fact, some reports suggest that Apple would use the iMac Pro name again for this new iMac.
Retired leaker Dylandkt posted a description of a new iMac on Twitter in October 2021, referring to it as “iMac (Pro)”. This “iMac (Pro)” would have these features:
- ProMotion and miniLED
- Base model with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage
- M1 Pro and M1 Max
- dark bezels
- HDMI, SD card and USB-C
- Similar design to the 24″ iMac and Pro Display XDR
- standard ethernet
- Face ID tested but not confirmed
- Starting price of $2,000 or more
- Arrival during the first half of 2022
Obviously, this has not been the case, but Dylan is not the only one who has predicted a new iMac Pro. Display analyst Ross Young has also predicted it based on leaks of 27-inch screens, although these could be from the Studio Display.
Mark Gurman from Bloomberg He has also assured that a new iMac Pro will arrive, even after Apple announced the Mac Studio and removed the 27-inch iMac from its website. Of course, he has warned that it will not be for a while.
Release date
If all this information is correct, it seems that Apple is preparing a new iMac Pro, but when will it arrive?
We had a small hope that it would be presented during the WWDC on June 6, 2022, but it was not. Certainly, it is not much of a surprise either, since most rumors suggest that it will take time to arrive.
For example, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo posted on Twitter that the iMac Pro won’t go on sale until 2023.
[Updated]2023: Mac Pro, iMac Pro and Mac mini https://t.co/NiloxXy0jv
– éƒæ˜ŽéŒ¤ (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 11, 2022
Display analyst Ross Young is often on the lookout for upcoming Apple monitors, and in a May 2022 tweet, he assured that the non-arrival of a 27-inch miniLED monitor could be explained because it’s not intended for the new iMac.
Apple leak! The 27″ MiniLED monitor has been delayed as it was going to be produced at Quanta in Shanghai which has been locked down. Production is in the process of being moved to a different location and has been delayed. It now looks like an October release.
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) May 20, 2022
Price
As for the price, it is likely that Apple will decide to place it in the line of the 27-inch iMac, which started at €2,009 / MXN$49,999 when the 2020 model went on sale. It is also likely, of course, that Apple will increase the price, perhaps above €2,500 / MXN$55,000.
design and colors
In July 2021, Mark Gurman suggested that the new iMac Pro would have “a design similar to the current iMac with M1”. The iMac Pro will likely take some inspiration from the 24-inch iMac. It’s available in multiple colors, but it may not make it to the iMac Pro.
To create a difference between its consumer products and its professional products, Apple could choose different colors, as it already does with the iPhone Pro. It could also decide on the traditional silver color of the 27-inch iMac or the space gray color of the iMac Pro previous.
Another difference could be the bezels, which on the large iMac could be dark and not white like on the 24″ iMac. notch which we’ve already seen on the 14″ and 16″ MacBook Pros and the MacBook Air with M2.
Screen size and technology
Ross Young and other analysts believe that the iMac Pro will have a 27-inch screen, which is disappointing. However, this information could refer to the Studio Display. That means that there is no need to download an iMac with a larger screen.
A larger screen would make the iMac Pro more attractive to potential buyers. Next to the 24-inch iMac (4.5K screen with a resolution of 4,480 x 2,520 pixels), the 27-inch iMac is only slightly more impressive thanks to its 5K (5,120 x 2,880) screen.
The iMac Pro will not only be compared to the 24″ iMac, but also to other modern displays larger than 30″ (including the 32″ Pro Display XDR).
If Apple decides to use new display technology, this could allow it to pack more pixels into a 27-inch screen, though we’d certainly like to see a 32-inch screen in the new iMac Pro.
The next iMac will also have smaller bezels, which could help increase that pixel density without making the screen much larger.
Processor
The Mac Studio is a good desktop, but it only offers the M1 Max and M1 Ultra options. There are potential users who would rather use the M1 Pro, something we’d like to see in a new iMac Pro.
However, now that a new generation has arrived, the M2 chip, it is unlikely that Apple will choose to launch the iMac Pro with an older processor. Perhaps it will with the equivalents, potentially, the M2 Pro, the M2 Max and the M2 Ultra.
Graphic card
The M1 Pro offers a 14-core or 16-core GPU, while the M1 Max’s GPU is even better, with a total of 32 cores. Again, the GPU could be even more powerful when Apple introduces the variants premium of the M2.
RAM
The new iMac could arrive with a unified memory of 64 GB, considerably less than the 128 GB RAM that it has previously supported. However, this could be possible with the M1 Ultra (or M2 Ultra), compatible with such a high capacity.
Storage
The new iMac Pro could arrive with a base storage of 512 GB, a considerable improvement over the 256 GB that was offered in the entry model of the 27-inch iMac. We understand that there would also be other options (SSD up to 8 TB).
Ports and expansions
The 24-inch iMac has two USB 3 ports, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and one port. Jack for headphones. After it did with the MacBook Pro, Apple could also include an HDMI and an SDXC card slot. There would also be an Ethernet port on the adapter.
Other benefits
The 24-inch iMac and 2021 MacBook Pro came with improved FaceTime cameras thanks to the M1 ISP. This same camera could make it to the iMac Pro, albeit with support for Face ID. Otherwise, it would still offer Touch ID on the keyboard .
