Apple rumors continue to confuse: new iMac could be imminent – and maybe a big surprise too?

Apple could be about to launch a new iMac, if the latest chatter from the grapevine is correct – with all the gossip admittedly swinging rather wildly between what model of Mac could be released later in October.

The rumor mill seems to agree that a new Mac will be launched in what little remains of this month – or maybe even more than one – but Mark Gurman, one of the respected Apple leakers out there, believes firmly that a new iMac is inbound.

Gurman has said this before, some six months ago, in fact, but in his latest newsletter (for Bloomberg, via MacRumors), the leaker reaffirms that a new iMac 24-inch could be revealed on October 30 or 31, so the very end of the month, just ahead of Apple’s earnings announcement (on November 2).

It could be another type of Mac, though, as Gurman isn’t fully certain the all-in-one is debuting, but does say that a ‘Mac-centered product launch’ will be happening at the close of October, one way or another.

There’s no mention of what chip will power the purported iMac, so we can assume that it will stick with the M2, rather than pack fresh M3 silicon – mainly because we’d expect that to be mentioned, if the latter was the case.

Gurman does mention the M3 chips, but only in the context that they’ll come with the next-gen MacBook Air in 2024 (in theory), so again, that implies we won’t see an M3 release with the iMac (and we wouldn’t expect it, anyway). Furthermore, there’s been another recent rumor that the iMac 24-inch will run with M2 chips and be a relatively modest upgrade.

Interestingly, Gurman does still leave room for the possibility of MacBook Pro refreshes still arriving this month, as Apple is “making headway” on new 14-inch and 16-inch models, we’re told. But the leaker notes that given refreshed versions of the Pro arrived at the start of 2023, it’d be unusual to have another round of revamping in the same year – unusual but “not inconceivable” he observes.

Analysis: Speculation overdrive

So, there’s still some uncertainty kicking about here, and that has been the story with all these leaks about a Mac – or multiple Macs – likely turning up late in October. Nobody can quite agree which model (or models) might be incoming, although an iMac refresh has been mentioned more than other possibilities, particularly now Gurman has restated his belief that the all-in-one will be arriving.

The confusion is perhaps best illustrated by a rumor that turned up towards the end of last week, from Ming-Chi Kuo, another respected Apple leaker, who asserted that the iMac 24-inch won’t debut until 2024 (but will come with an M3 SoC).

So, this is pretty murky rumor territory overall, particularly seeing as Gurman won’t rule out the appearance of MacBook Pro models imminently, and isn’t concrete on the iMac (the only firm statement here is that Apple is going to hold a Mac-centered product launch in a week).

But Gurman does have a bit of additional evidence to back up the iMac launch theory. He notes that Apple retail shops are running low on stock of the current iMac, and there’s a delay on online orders (other sources have recently observed this too). So, that could be clearing the decks of older inventory for a new arrival, of course. (Interestingly, Gurman says the same is true of the MacBook Pro 13-inch).

Furthermore, the iMac seems a likely candidate for launching simply due to the length of time the all-in-one has gone without a new model. The last iMac was introduced in April 2021, in fact, and while long gaps aren’t unusual for some of Apple’s computer ranges, it feels about time for a new model here.

Whatever the case, we’ll find out soon, because the end of October is almost upon us now. Indeed, an event announcement must be imminent – if it’s happening at all, of course.

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