Reported iMac inventory shortage may signal imminent refresh

Posted:
in Future Apple Hardware edited January 2014
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.

iMac Supply
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.

iMac Inventory


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.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 34
    red oakred oak Posts: 1,087member
    NA
  • Reply 2 of 34
    shenshen Posts: 434member
    Been waiting since march. Tomorrow would be great, what do you say Apple...
  • Reply 3 of 34
    irelandireland Posts: 17,798member
    Retina, PLS.
  • Reply 4 of 34
    jeffdmjeffdm Posts: 12,951member
    There's been reported occasional iMac shortages for the past three months now, is it for real this time or another "cry wolf"?
  • Reply 5 of 34

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Ireland View Post



    Retina, PLS.


     


    That would be announcement worthy, and thus we have to wait until the announcement (at least 2 weeks).

  • Reply 6 of 34
    ireland wrote: »
    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!
  • Reply 7 of 34


    Order my New iPhone 5 - DONE !


     


    Order my New iMac 27" Fully Maxed Out - Chomping at the bit !

  • Reply 8 of 34

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by TheOtherGeoff View Post


     


    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.

  • Reply 9 of 34

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by JeffDM View Post



    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.  

  • Reply 10 of 34

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by BuffyzDead View Post


    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. ;¬)

  • Reply 11 of 34

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Dick Applebaum View Post





    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)

  • Reply 12 of 34
    jungmarkjungmark Posts: 6,926member
    i hope so. I've been waiting since my mac died in june.
  • Reply 13 of 34

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by shen View Post



    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

  • Reply 14 of 34

    Quote:

    Originally Posted by AnalogJack View Post


     


    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

  • Reply 15 of 34
    This happened before. Now, it happened again. Surprise! Nothing happened! In the meantime I picked up a retina MacBook Pro. DogCowabunga, dudes!! Now it's too late for the iMac. Next stop on the upgrade line? Mac pro, bro…
  • Reply 16 of 34
    And yet the apple store says they are available for shipping now if stock, in 3 days if you change anything like memory or graphics card. So Apple seems to have them.
  • Reply 17 of 34
    Apple will frequently let the channel dry out long before their own retail locations run low.

    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?
  • Reply 18 of 34
    Retina Macbook Pro 13 in please! :D
  • Reply 19 of 34
    if anyone's been paying attention there is an iMac refresh coming in the next couple of weeks but i think they will probably just be a redesign body and slimmer i.e. NO DVD/CD Drive and probably thunderbolt capable you can forget RETINA display (maybe they'll produce a less glossy reflective display) because i think it would be costly and they probably cannot produce enough as yet.... but i heard the 21" model would be announced with the iPad Mini and maybe a week or 2 after the 27" so no internal Disc Drive for slimmer design but you can bet there will be Thunderbolt, USB 3 and maybe WiFI 802.AC

    I know several people who are waiting for this upgrade and are due for these new iMacs

    BitzandBitez
  • Reply 20 of 34
    Ivy Bridge and USB 3.0 have been waiting for Apple since April so clearly they're up to something, but retina iMacs aren't going to happen until after all the notebooks have been converted.

    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.
Sign In or Register to comment.