Apple’s next iMac: Four upgrades to look forward to

Apple is expected to hold another keynote this fall, likely in October. The company will likely update some Mac and iPad models, including the iMac. Here’s everything you should expect with Apple’s next iMac refresh.

New M4 chip

Apple last updated the iMac last October, upgrading it from the M1 chip to the M3 chip. Luckily, the iMac will not be skipping chips again, and we’re anticipating to see the M4 chip in the iMac later this year, based on TSMC’s second generation 3nm process.

This’ll upgrade the iMac from an 8 core CPU to a 10 core CPU, representing a roughly 20-25% performance gain.

USB-C Magic Accessories

Though there haven’t been any concrete rumors on this, Apple does have to transition all of its new devices from Lightning to USB-C by the end of this year to comply with European regulation.

Therefore, we should expect to see USB-C on the Magic Mouse, Magic Keyboard, and Magic Trackpad bundled with the next iMac.

Additional unified memory

Previous reports from Bloomberg indicated that all M4 Macs would start with at least 16GB of RAM, according to information seen in developer logs. This would also apply to the iMac with M4, so we will likely see 16GB of RAM across the board with all of the base model iMacs, with the option to upgrade to 32GB of RAM.

Previously, the M3 iMac topped out at 24GB of RAM.

More Thunderbolt ports

The port situation on the 24″ iMac has always been a little bit odd. There’s a cheaper base model with only 2 Thunderbolt ports, and then a higher end model with 2 Thunderbolt ports and an additional 2 standard USB-C ports.

Although there’s nothing indicating that Apple will increase the number of ports on the base model, there’s a decent chance that all four ports on the higher end iMac models will be Thunderbolt, rather than half and half.

According to analysis of an M4 die shot done by Fred on Twitter, it appears that Apple’s M4 chip is equipped with four Thunderbolt controllers, compared to two on the M3 chip and earlier. This could mean that Apple might ship 4 Thunderbolt ports on the upcoming M4 iMac.

Wrap up

Although a minor refresh, there are some things to look forward to if you were in the market for a new iMac. Unfortunately, there are no rumors indicating that Apple is still working on a larger iMac or any sort of iMac Pro. At least according to Apple, the 24″ iMac is all they’ll be making for now.

That’s definitely a bummer if you don’t like the 24″ iMac for whatever reason, whether that be the size, the design, or the fact that you need an external power supply. Apple recommends buying a Studio Display and pairing it with a Mac of your choice if you want the experience of a larger iMac.

Are you looking forward to the M4 iMac? Let us know in the comments.

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