iMac with 'iPad Pro design language' plus T2 chip could debut at WWDC
An updated iMac with the first redesign in years, plus upgraded internals could debut at Apple's WWDC 2020 event in June.
Credit: Apple
The last iMac spec boost came in March 2019, but the design itself hasn't been updated in years. According to leaker Sonny Dickson, that could change in 2020.
A 2020 iMac refresh, to be announced at WWDC, is predicted to get "iPad Pro design language, with Pro Display like bezels," Sonny Dickson said. Dickson claims that it will utilize the T2 chip for security plus video codec assistance, and an AMD Navi GPU.
The rumor predicts the demise of the Fusion Drive as well. This would presumably be replaced in favor of flash media options, similar to how the Mac mini refresh of 2018 got rid of internal spinning hard drives.
Although the leaker doesn't specify, in all probability the updated iMac will stick with an Intel-based processor. Reports of ARM Macs indicate that Apple will first make the switch on notebooks.
Earlier on Tuesday, a report suggested that Apple could announce its plans to transition to ARM-based chips at WWDC this year, but adds that ARM hardware won't be available until 2021. The updated iMac, by contrast, will likely be a 2020 model.
This isn't the first time we've seen rumors of an impending iMac redesign. In April, a supply chain report suggested that a lower-cost, 23-inch iMac was on the horizon. And Jon Prosser in May said an iMac was ready and could "drop at any time."
Known leaker Fudge, also known as choco_bit on Twitter, revealed the existence of an iMac redesign due at WWDC in a report submitted to AppleInsider.
Apple's WWDC 2020 conference kicks off on June 22 and will be the first to be held completely virtually.
Credit: Apple
The last iMac spec boost came in March 2019, but the design itself hasn't been updated in years. According to leaker Sonny Dickson, that could change in 2020.
A 2020 iMac refresh, to be announced at WWDC, is predicted to get "iPad Pro design language, with Pro Display like bezels," Sonny Dickson said. Dickson claims that it will utilize the T2 chip for security plus video codec assistance, and an AMD Navi GPU.
The rumor predicts the demise of the Fusion Drive as well. This would presumably be replaced in favor of flash media options, similar to how the Mac mini refresh of 2018 got rid of internal spinning hard drives.
New iMac incoming at WWDC. iPad Pro design language, with Pro Display like bezels. T2 chip, AMD Navi GPU, and no more fusion drive
-- Sonny Dickson (@SonnyDickson)
Although the leaker doesn't specify, in all probability the updated iMac will stick with an Intel-based processor. Reports of ARM Macs indicate that Apple will first make the switch on notebooks.
Earlier on Tuesday, a report suggested that Apple could announce its plans to transition to ARM-based chips at WWDC this year, but adds that ARM hardware won't be available until 2021. The updated iMac, by contrast, will likely be a 2020 model.
This isn't the first time we've seen rumors of an impending iMac redesign. In April, a supply chain report suggested that a lower-cost, 23-inch iMac was on the horizon. And Jon Prosser in May said an iMac was ready and could "drop at any time."
Known leaker Fudge, also known as choco_bit on Twitter, revealed the existence of an iMac redesign due at WWDC in a report submitted to AppleInsider.
Apple's WWDC 2020 conference kicks off on June 22 and will be the first to be held completely virtually.
Comments
All in all, there seems little for me to be interested in at this year's WWDC. YYMV. I might be interested in an Apple TV with a tuner for OTA, (yes, there are other boxes) an Apple monitor (and even if they went back into this business, they would be way overpriced) the return of Airport, (not happening ever) or even hearing about the Apple Glasses (too soon.) None of the rumored stuff is interesting to me.
What will be interesting is if the magnetic mounting from the Pro Display XDR makes it over, as well as a stand that can do vertical transition and portrait rotation. Depending on cost and maybe Ethernet-over-TB3 networking, thought it'll would be fine with 10G Ethernet, buyers can increase their computational power by adding another iMac.
Comet Lake and Navi are going to be hot! Maybe a 400 W power supply over the current 300 W in the iMac 5K. iMac Pro territory. Once ARM is available, 0.25" thick.
Comet Lake is essentially a price cut, except for the 10 core model which might have a hard time fitting in the thermal constraints of an iMac (unless the new design eases those constraints). CPU price cuts are nice, though.
I might actually buy something along these lines... my 2014 iMac is getting old.
It was bizarre enough for the mini, Mac Pro, etc. but really bizarre for their most popular desktop.
Really, I don't think it's bizarre. They should always be making the best product they can at any given point in time. There's no reason to intentionally hold a product design back.
in terms of physical appearance, it has been a very compelling design for a long time. It is hard to improve on a design that good. For example, you cannot find many displays better than what is in the 27 inch iMac.
I’ll guess that whatever the new physical design is, it required multiple technical advances in order to be feasible.
They 2018 Mac mini w/T2 essentially has the same components as the 2019 iMac 4K, but it doesn't have a T2. I'll have to check, but maybe the 65 and 95 Watt processors didn't have enough PCIe lanes to support a dGPU, 2 Titan Ridge TB3 controllers, and a T2. So, for the iMac, they left the T2 off? That's probably not true. The 2019 iMac models could have been the backup plan to a planned introduction of a new iMac industrial design in 2019 that they had to push out to 2020?
The Comet Lake based, Intel 14nm, 10-core Core i9-10900K that would be the top end Intel CPU option for a Spring 2020 iMac is going to run hot. 125 W TDP with turbos (there's like 4 turbo modes?) needs 250 W of power for short bursts at least. They will need to re-engineer the entire iMac to handle both Comet Lake and AMD Navi GPUs. The easy thing would have been to design around the iMac Pro thermal system, but I think they know the iMac ID is getting stale and needs to be updated.
I didn't know that huge screen was coming and I joke that I almost fainted when it debuted....
It was fairly upgraded, with a 2TB HDD (7200rpm), at $2600.
It's still going and we still use it. It's on El Capitan and we only use it for family photos in the Photo's app (66,000 of them), and e-mail/Internet.
My replacement goal has always been 2TB SSD, without the SSD-upgrade being $1400. So far it's been very very high-cost to get there.
Today only the high end $2300 one can be upgraded to 2TB SSD from 2TB Fusion, and it's $700. So $3000 total to get to 2TB SSD. Maybe that's very fair, not complaining, but it is steep.
Will be watching with great interest on what the new form factor looks like, but even more what it takes to get to 2TB SSD.
Cheers!