Reported iMac inventory shortage may signal imminent refresh
According to a report on Tuesday, some Apple authorized resellers are seeing little to no inventory of current iMac models in the supply chain, hinting that a refresh may be on the horizon.
An anonymous Apple Authorized Service Provider told TUAW that iMac channel supply is running peculiarly low, with inventory listed at zero for many models.
Source: TUAW
"While putting in an order today we stumbled upon both our suppliers have no stock of 21 or 27 inch iMacs," the tipster said. "One picture has an estimated ETA while the other shows all current models at 0 stock. All 4 models look similar to the picture that displays the ETAs."
The source is referring to a pair of screenshots taken from their suppliers' inventory systems, which show almost every iMac model out of stock.
In late August, AppleInsider's pricing guide reflected a similar situation, though the supply constraints were limited to the 27-inch iteration of Apple's all-in-one machine. With Tuesday's report, both 27-inch and 21.5-inch models are seeing stockouts
Analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who provides consistently accurate foresight of Apple's supply chain, said in July that he expects a new iMac model to see release as soon as September. Further backing up the claims of a product refresh are internal configuration files discovered in Mountain Lion pointing to as-yet-unreleased iMacs.
Most recently, a report claimed Apple's upstream suppliers were shipping next-generation iMacs and a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display ahead of a September or October launch date. It is unclear if Apple will present the two machines at a single event or roll them out separately, however the company is said to be unleashing eight new devices this fall with the first major debut being last week's iPhone 5 announcement.
An anonymous Apple Authorized Service Provider told TUAW that iMac channel supply is running peculiarly low, with inventory listed at zero for many models.
Source: TUAW
"While putting in an order today we stumbled upon both our suppliers have no stock of 21 or 27 inch iMacs," the tipster said. "One picture has an estimated ETA while the other shows all current models at 0 stock. All 4 models look similar to the picture that displays the ETAs."
The source is referring to a pair of screenshots taken from their suppliers' inventory systems, which show almost every iMac model out of stock.
In late August, AppleInsider's pricing guide reflected a similar situation, though the supply constraints were limited to the 27-inch iteration of Apple's all-in-one machine. With Tuesday's report, both 27-inch and 21.5-inch models are seeing stockouts
Analyst Ming Chi-Kuo, who provides consistently accurate foresight of Apple's supply chain, said in July that he expects a new iMac model to see release as soon as September. Further backing up the claims of a product refresh are internal configuration files discovered in Mountain Lion pointing to as-yet-unreleased iMacs.
Most recently, a report claimed Apple's upstream suppliers were shipping next-generation iMacs and a 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display ahead of a September or October launch date. It is unclear if Apple will present the two machines at a single event or roll them out separately, however the company is said to be unleashing eight new devices this fall with the first major debut being last week's iPhone 5 announcement.
Comments
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ireland
Retina, PLS.
That would be announcement worthy, and thus we have to wait until the announcement (at least 2 weeks).
Retina 27" display more doable than 27" iMac...
FCP X is waiting!
Order my New iPhone 5 - DONE !
Order my New iMac 27" Fully Maxed Out - Chomping at the bit !
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheOtherGeoff
That would be announcement worthy, and thus we have to wait until the announcement (at least 2 weeks).
My guess is no retina displays and therefore no major press event. Probably just an announcement on the apple.com main page.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JeffDM
There's been reported occasional iMac shortages for the past three months now, is it for real this time or another "cry wolf"?
It's for real this time. We ordered four iMacs a month ago. We got 2 of them and have yet to get the other 2. They really are in very short supply.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BuffyzDead
Order my New iMac 27" Fully Maxed Out - Chomping at the bit !
I'll wager you won't be ordering it with maxed out ram. ;¬)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum
Retina 27" display more doable than 27" iMac...
FCP X is waiting!
Not really, a 27" iMac is more likely to feature the Retina Display at this stage, as there's nothing that has the GPU horsepower to plug a Retina Thunderbolt Display into. In addition, the Retina Thunderbolt Display will most probably need next year's Thunderbolt chipsets for Haswell which support DisplayPort 1.2.
But a 27" iMac's hardware is going to cost more than a Retina MacBook Pro, so I would think of it more as a replacement for the Mac Pro. (Which TC said is due next year)
Quote:
Originally Posted by shen
Been waiting since march. Tomorrow would be great, what do you say Apple...
no way would they release new computers in the days up to a device launch. this will be more like in a couple of weeks when the rush is over. or at least next week when the crazy weekend is over
Quote:
Originally Posted by AnalogJack
I'll wager you won't be ordering it with maxed out ram. ;¬)
if it's a retina display in slim form with the ram soldered to the board like the rMBP you might.
and before anyone starts up with the whole "a retina iMac is impossible" check your math. it won't require double the current resolution. not even 150% (it's more like 115%) so yeah it in fact could be very possible
Are you new to following Apple Retail supply behavior? Do you realize that Apple makes more selling hardware in their own stores versus their channel partners?
I know several people who are waiting for this upgrade and are due for these new iMacs
BitzandBitez
I expect the first retina desktop will be the re-imagined Mac Pro paired with a 4K Cinema display. Considering the power you need to effectively drive a 4K display it's going to be a long time before such a GPU fits into the tight constraints of an iMac (low power draw, low heat output, low price). The 15" retina MBP has mediocre graphics performance because super efficient GPUs simply don't have enough raw horsepower.