doggone

It's great that TB is going up to the next level.  Even better that USB-C will work with the same connection.

This is all great for the high end equipment, but basic drives and monitors still are stuck on USB or HDMI/DP (even VGA!!!).  It takes years for the industry to catch up.

The form factor for the iMac has bothered me for years now.  The chin on the display is unnecessary and apple should be placing the circuit boards behind the screen.  Essentially all you should see from the front is the screen with the bezel just big enough to house the camera.
I agree that the iMac is on its last legs.  It has limited utility as an all in one for young kids, schools and maybe kiosks or receptionists.  Any other use is better served by a laptop that you can easily hook up a display to when you want to work at a desk.
I agree on the pricing for SSD and RAM and the miniimum configuration really needs to be 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. Unfotunately that is where Apple makes free money so i don't see it ending. Personally I just by the model that has the configuration I want.  It generally is cheaper than doing a custom configuration and the delivery is faster.

Buying them isn't so easy.  TH ecurrent market cap for MASI is 4.3M.  Back in April it was 3 times as much.  Apple won't want to spend that for a measily O2 sensor.  So licensing would be the way to go if the gov't agrees with the ban.

if the chips are available then I would say M3 all the way.  if I were in the market for an iMac and saw that M3s were starting to be used, I would probably not buy a M2 version thinking that the M3 may be out in 6 months.  

But it is interesting that iMac refresh rates are slowing down.  I get the color offerings but that makes it even harder to sell your inventory.  For me, laptops are far more useful and it is easy to attach a monitor or two if you want to work in a desktop mode. I haven't understood why the iMac still has a chin.  Apple in the website talks about how thin the unit is.  Who cares? When you are looking at the screen you don't see the thickness or lack of it.  But you do see the chin.  Why not make the unit just screen at the front and put the circuit board behind the screen.  The website shows a lot of images of people using an iMac for work.  Anyone doing major work will likely want several screens nowadays and again a laptop would be more flexible in its use case.  So iMacs are probably mostly useful for kids, light secretarial activities etc.  So keeping the price down low maybe a good reason for moving to M2 only.

I firmly believe Apple should start thinking about pushing down on the low end market.  They did this superbly well with the iPods.  Apple started off with the main iPod but then it really took off with the iPod mini (and the PC version of iTunes).  However there was still a lot of customers using cheaper MP3 players until Apple came out with the shuttle that effectively sucked all the profit out of the business.  
I think there is an opportunity with the M1 chip to release a cheaper notebook solution.  Something in the $500-700 range with basic features.  The price for M1 fabs must be very cheap now and Apple has the opportunity to put pressure on the PC market by getting customers who can't afford a regular Mac to gain entry at a price point that works for them.  
This isn't about cannibalizing the Mac market but starting to introduce a new user base to the Apple world.  If successful it will reduce the profit margins of other PC makers.

This might sound silly but I have never figured out why the pencil isn't allowed to work with an iPhone.  I don't an iPad but I would like the ability to jot stuff down on a phone by writing rather than typing.