In addition to the revamped MacBook Pros that abandon the Touch Bar and revive MagSafe, Apple is also planning to announce its long-awaited redesign of the iMac this year – and a couple of Mac Pro updates are also on the roadmap. This is all in line with Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who says the iMac will undergo its most significant overhaul since 2012: Apple is said to drop its jaw under the screen, reduce screen bezels and switch to a flat-back design. The overall appearance will likely be similar to the Pro Display XDR.
The new iMac will replace the currently available 27-inch and 21.5-inch Intel versions and move the all-in-one desktop to Apple’s silicon. It will be one of the most significant visual reforms of any Apple product this year, according to the report. The existing iMac brings together high-level specs and a beautiful display in a design that looks particularly out of date for the past two years, so this change is welcome. The latest review focused on increasing speed, an improved webcam and also added an option for a matte / nano-texture screen coating.
As for the Mac Pro, Apple appears to have a plan on two fronts: it will update the current upgradeable tower design – Gurman says the company is considering keeping Intel processors for this machine. But that doesn’t mean Apple is stopping on a Mac Pro that runs on its own chips. The company is also apparently working on a completely new format that Gurman says is less than half the total size of the current Mac Pro. “The design will have a mostly aluminum exterior and can evoke the nostalgia for the Power Mac G4 Cube,” he says.
All of them will feature Apple’s next generation of Mac processors, which debuted on last year’s M1 MacBook Air, MacBook Pro and Mac mini. Lastly, Apple is planning to launch a new external monitor that forgoes some of the Pro Display XDR’s professional-grade screen specifications to reach a broader audience of customers. The Pro Display XDR has a starting price of $ 5,000 and Apple currently sells third-party displays from LG as a more affordable reduction option. But it looks like a spiritual successor to the Thunderbolt Display may be on its way in 2021.