An Apple Silicon iMac Pro with the next-generation M3 chip is in development, according to a new report. The launch of the new machine is not expected anytime soon since the M3 chip has yet to be announced.
Apple Silicon iMac Pro in the works – Gurman
In the latest edition of his “Power On” newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman revealed that the Cupertino tech giant plans to launch a new iMac for “pro” users and that the machine is set to use “a variation of the M3 chip, likely an M3 Pro and M3 Max,” unfortunately, that does mean that it will not be arriving anytime soon.
I also still believe that Apple is working on a larger-screened iMac aimed at the professional market. I’d imagine this will use a variation of the M3 chip, likely an M3 Pro and M3 Max. That would match the chips inside of the MacBook Pro.
The journalist went on to say that he does not think “the combination of a Mac Studio or Mac mini plus an Apple Studio Display cuts it for many pro users who want more screen real estate.”
Since the start of this year, a ton of rumors have pointed to a June launch for the iMac Pro. Gurman dispelled those rumors back in April saying that a new model will not be coming “anytime soon.”
Since Apple has just started releasing Macs with its new M2 chip which was announced at WWDC 22, the M3 is not coming before the cycle for the current chip ends. Apple says the M2 chip has an 18% faster CPU, a 35% faster GPU, and a 40% faster Neural Engine compared to the M1 chip while providing the same battery efficiency.
Given the mention of the M3 chip family, and that Apple has only just started releasing devices using M2, it looks like much longer than a year until the supposed iMac Pro surfaces.
Some tidbits we know about the long-rumored iMac Pro are that its starting price will be over $2,000, its ports will include HDMI, SD card, and USB-C (likely with Thunderbolt 4), and it will ship with an Ethernet port on charging brick as default and it will replace the aging 27-inch Intel iMac in Apple’s lineup.
In addition, the base model will feature 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. It is likely that the base model will also have lesser CPU or GPU cores, compared to higher-end models. Face ID has been tested for the iMac Pro but it is not confirmed. Unclear what it means for a notch on the machine.
