Mikey Campbell
Apple's beta releases continue to yield clues about unannounced hardware, with Tuesday's macOS Big Sur 11.3 beta including references of two new iMac designations.
Spotted by 9to5Mac, the macOS Big Sur beta issued to developers today includes hardware identifiers for an "iMac21,1" and "iMac21,2," both of which do not match existing iMac models.
According to the site, "iMac21,1" and "iMac21,2" correspond to iMacs codenamed J456 and J457. In January, Bloomberg outed those designations as next-generation replacements for the current 21.5-inch iMac and 27-inch iMac, which are due for a refresh this spring.
Today's discovery comes about a week after a developer found references of an unannounced Apple Silicon Mac in Xcode's Crash Reporter.
Apple is widely expected to soon unveil a new iMac line powered by a variation of its M1 chip. Previous reports point to a redesigned chassis that borrows features from Apple's angular iPhone and iPad devices. New color options are also rumored.
It is unclear when Apple plans to announce the new hardware, but the company officially discontinued the iMac Pro and ceased production of some 21.5-inch iMac configurations earlier in March.
William Gallagher
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
15 Comments
Does the code mean 2021 or does it mean 21 inch?
I would expect the low-end models to have the M1 chip and the higher end models the M1x, so this is confusing, unless all the iMac models will only have one chip.
Two model numbers either means 2 different clock speeds or CPUs with the same screen size OR 2 different screen sizes with possibly different clock speeds or CPUs. Hoping that both the new 23-24" and a larger 29-30" come out next month. Likely with higher resolutions so maybe 4.4K and 5.5K? Not like Apple to reduce screen resolution.
Apple may decide to eliminate the performance differential of the 2 iMac sizes now, making the future iMac Pro 6K model THE HIGH PERFORMANCE iMac. Coming in Fall '21 or Spring '22 perhaps?
Anyway, happy to have Apple add another 2 Mac models and allow more of us to move to Apple Silicon!
The 21 means generation 21. It’s mostly just coincidence that it’s the same as the year number.
As for a 6K iMac Pro, I highly doubt it. The iMac Pro was a 2017 stopgap while we waited for the 2019 Mac Pro after Apple admitted they’d kinda screwed up with the 2013 cylinder.
I expect the iMac Pro is discontinued for good.