March practically ended and we still don’t have any confirmation about a potential release of the new generation of iMac. Apple did send a letter to its employees in which Tim Cook said that Apple has “great desktops in the works,” and while the letter has been sent during late 2016 we still didn’t hear anything (anything official) at least regarding the new iMac lineup.
Although there is no official info regarding the Apple’s desktop computer, rumors are – as always – swirling, many of them containing potential specs and features of the upcoming iMac 2017 edition. So, let’s see what rumors have to say.
Intel’s Kaby Lake will probably be used for powering the new iMacs
The last iMac update happened during 2015 when Apple presented Skylake – powered iMac line. Since then, there weren’t any updates.
Intel revealed their new line of Kaby Lake chips last year, and the new processors are prime suspects in the case called “the new iMac engine.“ Kaby Lake chips offer excellent performance with better power optimization. One thing that could make Apple skip Kaby Lake CPUs is the fact that Intel plans to switch to the 10nm production process (Kaby Lake chips are made in the 14nm process) with its Cannonlake CPU series, meaning that Cannonlake chips will feature superb power optimization, allowing higher clocks and even more processing power.
AMD Polaris GPUs may be featured in new iMac line
AMD did a great job with its Polaris architecture. Yes, the new video cards aren’t as powerful as NVidia’s Pascal – based GPU line, but Polaris offers better price-power ratio, and most of iMac users aren’t known as hardcore gamers. Apple will probably want to save some money, so picking Polaris – based chips instead of the new GTX 1xxx line seems logical.
New iMacs will support VR
Apple’s desktop solutions are just too underpowered for VR since they use dated GPUs. This could change with iMac 2017 because the Polaris AMD video cards are 100 percent VR ready. We might finally see an Apple device offering VR support with the new iMac 2017 line.
AMD thinks their new chips have the potential to massively expand the market for VR. AMD’s Roy Taylor stated that “AMD has just completed the shrink to 14nm [with Polaris],” explaining that “This means we can produce GPUs that will run the minimum spec of VR at a lower cost, in larger volume, consuming less power and running faster. That means in the second half of this year and going forward, more people will be able to run those headsets.”
OLED Touch Bar
Touch bar was one of the most attractive new features found in the latest MacBook Pro generation. It looks extremely attractive, can be reprogrammed for different functions, and is just a touch of the future that can’t be found in other laptops.
If Apple decides to release a new iMac line during 2017 you can bet they will feature OLED Touch Bar.
Flash storage
Flash storage was the main rumor back when the talk of the town was the 2015 iMac line. SSDs already became mainstream products, almost everyone has one, at least as a system drive and if Apple wants to stay relevant the company has to offer flash storage.
Having an SSD makes the system way faster, they aren’t as expensive as they used to be, and there’s the fact that all Mac laptops (at least the newer generations) have flash storage. On the other hand, 2015 iMac line comes with Fusion Drives – a flash and magnetic storage hybrid that is faster than the usual HDDs but still way slower than regular SSD storages. It’s simple; if Apple wants for the users to shell out thousands of dollars on a new iMac, the company simply has to offer SSD storage as default.
For the end a word or two about the potential release date. Many believed Apple will unveil the new iMac line in March, but we only got a new iPad and a new red iPhone edition. Now all eyes are focused on June and WWDC 2017.
Since many believe Apple will present the new iPhone during September, and the said iPhone will probably be the single star of the show (2017 marks a ten-years anniversary for the iPhone after all), it is quite possible for Apple to present new iMacs during its WWDC 2017 event, which will be held from 5 to 8 June at the McEnery Convention Center in San Jose. If Apple decides to use WWDC just for new software, we believe the company will unveil the new desktop line after September 2017, sometime during Q4, 2017.