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Apple is working on a giant iMac, but it isn't coming soon

24-inch iMac


Last updated

Apple's rumored large-screen iMac is still being considered by the company, but while a 32-inch model is a prospect, it may not be one that gets launched until later than first thought.

Following the discontinuation of the 27-inch iMac, users have waited for Apple to produce an upscaled version of the 24-inch iMac, but that so far hasn't surfaced. A report now claims that customers may have a while longer to wait before being able to enjoy the larger display.

In the subscriber edition of the "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman insists that Apple is experimenting with big-screen versions of the iMac. However, development is so early that a lot could change.

Gurman himself has previously reported the inclusion of a 30-inch or larger display in the New iMac, and in the newsletter, he identifies 32 inches as one potential size. He doubts that Apple will actually release the model anytime soon, and that it probably won't surface before the end of 2024.

So far, rumors about the larger iMac put it as having a similar design to the 24-inch model, complete with thin bezels and the new-style display stand. By shrinking the bezels, the overall size of the 30 or 32-inch model could end up being physically similar to the previous 27-inch version.

If a 30-inch iMac isn't enough for some users, there could be an even longer wait for even bigger variants. In April, a report insisted that a 42-inch iMac was possibly slated for a 2027 release.

On the 24-inch iMac running on M3, Gurman said in March that it won't launch until late 2023 or early 2024. In Sunday's newsletter, he has revised his estimate to be early 2024 for that particular model.



49 Comments

eriamjh 1771 comments · 17 Years

A 30” iMac is reasonable as it will be smaller than the old 30” cinema displays of the mid-2000s.    

32” would be nice, but 42” just seems like a typo to me.  No way.  

That said, a 30” iMac with a M3+Pro or Max chip is all I can imagine Apple putting in it to justify the price.  It would have to be $2999 or more.   

iMacs, Mac Studios, and Mac Pros only make up 1% each of Mac sales.    I don’t understand why Apple would even bother with another iMac beyond the 24”.   Nostalgia?   

rods5 6 comments · 18 Years

We have 2 - 27” iMac’s, one was purchased in 2017 and the other in 2015.  We are waiting for a new iMac that is as large or larger than 27”.   We won’t purchase the 24” models.  We have had the 27” versions when the first came out and have had at least 3, times 2, versions if not more since the 27” iMac were introduced.

Come on Apple, please bring out a larger than 24” iMac.  We are waiting…

AniMill 193 comments · 4 Years

1% of any sale at Apple equals about 3 billion dollars. It’s not a rounding error, nor an aberration of sales. Mac is the soul of Apple, it drives the hive of diehards that - though word of mouth - prop up iPhone. Yet if the Mac is the soul, iPhone is the entire body - we gotta have both for a functioning human.

As for a 32” iMac Pro, I relied upon my 27” for years. It was a beast and beautiful to work at and behold. I’m still bummed Apple would not come up with a low latency Target Display mode for the old 5K iMacs to use them with any M1/3 device.

9secondkox2 3148 comments · 8 Years

A 302” iMac would be just right. An upgrade over the old 27” which was amazing for its time. 

It would also fit perfectly in the desktop lineup. You have 24” iMac and Mac mini at the low end, Mac Studio and Mac Pro at the high end, and the big iMac going all the way from base m series chip to the Ultra as the everything Mac. 

Ultra thin bezels or infinity edge with the bezels tucked behind the screen would be amazing. The bezels look pretty tiny at 32” as it is. 

I don’t think a 42” iMac is impossible. Especially if it’s a retina resolution at a super ultrawide format. 

Ultrawide are amazing for editing as they offer the ability to see so much more on a timeline. Audio and video editors will especially love this. 

The various ultrawide and super ultrawide monitors out now are great to use, but they completely miss the ball with resolution. If Apple can manage an ultrawide 42” with retina resolution and the GPU to drive it, boom. Revolutionary. The m3 Ultra would do nicely. Perhaps that version of the larger iMac would be the iMac Pro. The regular 32” iMac would have the standard aspect ratio. 

One things for sure. With the long wait, hopefully it doesn’t turn out like the Mac Pro did. Sheesh. 

tenthousandthings 1060 comments · 17 Years

Here we go again! They already have a Retina (218 ppi) 4.5K foundation for this generation of iMac, which would only be incrementally larger at Retina 5K with the current bezels. Both the 21" and the 27" are gone, replaced by the 24". But that does not mean a larger unit is not in the works.

So then, what Retina resolution might they be looking at? Here is a list of 16:9 HD (high definition) resolutions. For fun, I've included some of the higher multiples that have never been used. The obvious target for a 30" Retina iMac is 3240p. I'd also love to see them come out with two new Studio Displays at 2520p and 3240p, matching the iMacs. Let Apple's marketing people figure out what to call those resolutions. Thunderbolt 5 puts all of these possible higher resolutions into play, but for 3600p and above, I think we're looking at panels denser than 218 ppi. Dell's 31.5" 4320p (8K) is 280 ppi.

720p = "HD" = 1280x720
1080p = 1920x1080 (1.5x 720p)
1440p = 2560x1440 (2x 720p)
2160p = "4K" = 3840x2160 (3x 720p; 2x 1080p)
2520p = "4.5K" = 4480x2520 (3.5x 720p)
2880p = "5K" = 5120x2880 (4x 720p)
3240p = 5760x3240 (4.5x 720p; 3x 1080p)
3600p = 6400x3600 (5x 720p)
4320p = "8K" = 7680x4320 (6x 720p; 4x 1080p)
5040p = 8960x5040 (7x 720p)
5400p = 9600x5400 (5x 1080p)
5760p = 10240x5760 (8x 720p)

2019 Apple "6K" = 6016x3384 (4.7x 720p)
2023 Dell "6K" = 6144x3456 (4.8x 720p)