Apple Planning to Launch 4K 21.5-Inch iMac in Late October

Apple will announce an updated 21.5-inch iMac with a 4K display at the end of October alongside the release of OS X El Capitan, reports 9to5Mac. The new iMac will then begin shipping out to customers in early November.

A new 21.5-inch Retina iMac has been anticipated for several months, following the discovery of code in OS X El Capitan that pointed towards a 21.5-inch machine with a resolution of 4096 x 2304. That code pointed towards Broadwell chips with Intel Iris Pro Graphics 6200 and AMD Radeon M380 - M395X discrete graphics, which may hint at the hardware we'll see in the updated iMac.

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Reliable KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also said in early August that the iMac line would receive a refresh this quarter, adding new processors and improved display quality that brings greater color saturation.

Apple began updating its iMac lineup last October, with the launch of the 27-inch Retina iMac. Updates across the line have been slow, however, due to Intel's ongoing Broadwell chip delays, and the 21.5-inch iMac has not seen an update since 2013.

It is not clear if Apple will release multiple 21.5-inch iMac models during the October refresh, or which chips those machines might use. Skylake chips appropriate for the iMac are launching "later this year," but there are a handful of Broadwell chips appropriate for various 21.5-inch iMac models.

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Top Rated Comments

Crosscreek Avatar
132 months ago
Sure would like to see a 24" 4K iMac.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacDarcy Avatar
132 months ago
I refuse to buy a retina IMac until they can be used as an external monitor like the non retina iMacs. Nothing worse than spending $2k on an iMac and not being able to use it as a display when it becomes too slow in the future.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OldSchoolMacGuy Avatar
132 months ago
And, they couldn't do 4K on the new Apple TV (at least per the rumors).
Not doing 4K on the Apple TV is about keeping the price down as low as possible. There isn't much in the way of 4K content currently and few people have 4K TVs so there's little reason to support it, especially since it's an added expense that makes less likely to purchase it.

On the Mac you have plenty of apps that are Retina already. There's already a market there.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
antman2x2 Avatar
132 months ago
What an about updated 27" inch? Pretty pleeeeeeeeease?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
OldSchoolMacGuy Avatar
132 months ago
I'd buy a couple if they offered a matching Apple monitor for a dual-monitor setup.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AlifTheUnseen Avatar
132 months ago
So they're gonna let it languish for 25 months and then give us broadwell? Really, Apple?
Give them a break, the entire engineering staff is busy on crucial work designing new Mickey Mouse watch bands.
When they get a few minutes of spare time they'll have a look at the iMac line.

(quote from - I think - MacVidCards, slightly modified)
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)