Apple plans to launch a 24-inch iMac with a new design in the fourth quarter of 2020, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today in a research note obtained by MacRumors.
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Earlier this week, Kuo claimed that this redesigned iMac will be one of Apple's first two Mac models with a custom Arm-based processor, with the other being a future 13-inch MacBook Pro.
Following years of rumors, Apple today confirmed its plans to switch to its own processors for its Macs, promising "incredible" performance and features. Apple said that it plans to release its first Mac with custom silicon by the end of 2020, and it expects to transition its entire Mac lineup away from Intel processors within around two years.
In the meantime, Kuo expects Apple to refresh its existing Intel-based iMac in the third quarter of 2020, which encompasses July through September. It is unclear if this model will feature a new design. Apple last redesigned the iMac in 2012.
A last-minute rumor suggested that Apple was going to unveil its redesigned iMac at WWDC, but the keynote did not include any specific hardware announcements.
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AnandTech did a very comprehensive benchmark ('https://www.anandtech.com/show/14892/the-apple-iphone-11-pro-and-max-review/4') of the A13 last year, including a comparison between it and Intel's top (at the time) desktop processor, the i9 9900K. The A13's single threaded performance (when actively cooled) was between 4% and 13% slower than the 9900K, depending on the test.Not sure how they'll reach their "incredible performance" goals by the end of the year, though. Right now, the A14Z is dramatically slower than Intel desktop CPUs and graphics performance is nothing compared to (some) dedicated GPUs.
Considering that the A13 was drawing 5-6W, and the i9 draws over 20W per core at full speed, these results are jawdropping. Expect a 20-30% performance increase from the A14 (which Apple has consistently achieved each year), plus higher clocks from desktop-grade power delivery and cooling, and it's entirely reasonable to see a desktop variant of the A14 beating the 10900K (only ~6% faster than the 9900K) by a significant margin.
Exciting times.
EDIT: Graphics performance should be interesting to see. Right now, Apple's mobile graphics are impressive but not industry-leading in the way their mobile CPUs are. That being said, there's nothing to stop them from slapping a PCIe controller onto their desktop silicon and connecting whatever desktop GPU they want.
This year they also reserved a 2 hour slot.
And they had the advantage of prerecording the entire presentation, so they could perfectly time it.
Yet this year's keynote was only 1:48:00. 12 minutes short of 2 hours. 12 minutes of unused space.
Does look like a last-minute scrap of a "One More Thing..." presentation.
“A14Z” doesn’t exist (yet?)Not sure how they'll reach their "incredible performance" goals by the end of the year, though. Right now, the A14Z is dramatically slower than Intel desktop CPUs and graphics performance is nothing compared to (some) dedicated GPUs.
The dev kit and the demos today were the A12Z, which is basically a chip from 2018 with an extra gpu core
Just curious - what makes you think ARM Macs won't be competitive?I think you might be surprised, at least i hope you are. While it doesnt make much sense on the surface, the fact is the ARM mac’s wont be competitive with Intel mac’s from jump. I think we’ll see ARM in the lower end products at first. Further, and perhaps more importantly, the professional sector will be slow to release native versions of software for ARM mac’s. That means many design houses and firms will rely on Intel mac’s for years to come.
Personally I don't think Apple would announce a full transition unless they had complete confidence they could overtake Intel's offerings across all their products. Going by my rough calculations ('https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/kuo-24-inch-imac-with-new-design-to-launch-in-fourth-quarter-of-2020.2242365/post-28591777') I'd expect an A14 based iMac to be faster than an Intel iMac, at least in raw performance. Whether or not it's faster in real world use probably depends on how much overhead Rosetta introduces.
I think you are mistaken, because they did announce MAC-SPECIFIC ARM chips, so we will be seeing differences compared to their mobile chips :) And we don't really know as of yet the sort of power-performance these "desktop" chips will have, so just be patient :) But, I wouldn't be surprised if they already have a desktop chip which beats Intel/AMD - don't forget, we don't really know what they have been secretly producing/testing/experimenting all these years, besides their official announcements/product releases - surprises could be in store...Not sure how they'll reach their "incredible performance" goals by the end of the year, though. Right now, the A14Z is dramatically slower than Intel desktop CPUs and graphics performance is nothing compared to (some) dedicated GPUs.