32-inch iMac rumored to arrive as soon as late 2024

The long-rumored large-screen iMac is still on the way, with a release now rumored for late 2024.

Since the retirement of the iMac Pro, the rumor mill has repeatedly claimed that a large iMac was on the way, with it amping up after the release of the 24-inch iMac.

In his latest "Power On" newsletter for Bloomberg, Mark Gurman discusses the larger iMac. Apple was apparently planning to launch a larger model shortly after the 24-inch arrived, but that didn't happen for reasons only known to itself.

Now, Gurman believes the model is "still poised" to arrive, with a release timeframe of late 2024 or 2025. Gurman also adds that the model will have a 32-inch display, making it the biggest in Apple's history.

Gurman's new claims follow a short time after similar predictions from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, who forecasted a "higher-end 32-inch mini LED display iMac" as arriving in 2025.

Specific details on the model aren't clear, obviously. Presumably it will have a variant of the M3 processor, and with a screen that large, be oriented towards to "pro" side of the market, more than the consumer side.

15 Comments

dennyc69 30 comments · 11 Years

About 1 year ago

That’s long in the tooth for sure.

macxpress 5912 comments · 16 Years

I doubt Apple is releasing an iMac Pro. An iMac Pro just isn't necessary with Mac Studio available. There might be a larger screened iMac coming but it won't be a Pro. Just because it's a larger screen iMac doesn't make it an iMac Pro.

jellybelly 137 comments · 15 Years

I see something in the tea leaves— or were those really tea leaves?

Is it possible with the Mac Pro and large iMac Pro delays, that Apple offered better differentiation for a new product with the introduction of the Mac Studio with Ultra chip?

This end of the long delay on 32” iMac— which I believe will be a pro due to its large screen that will need some horsepower to drive it — might as well go whole hog into matching power for CPU, GPU, increased RAM speed and bus speed. Transport speed in connection protocols such as Bluetooth, Ethernet, Display port, WiFi, USB4 v2 and Thunderbolt 5, likely all will be faster.

Thunderbolt 5 is 80Gbps bi-diectional ( 2 lanes up 2 lanes down, 80GBPs up and 80 down )
T’bolt 5 has an optional mode if high performance monitor is attached by Thunderbolt—of 120Gbps with 3 lanes up for hi performance monitor and one lane down of 40 Gbps.
Thunderbolt 5 at 80 Gbps, being double T’bolt 3 & 4, should come out sometime in 2024.
Along with an improved M3 iteration, that’s differentiation in a new iMac Pro.

And it will come out after other M3 devices except for the Mac Pro. So where will the M3 Mac Studio fit in the sequence?

elijahg 2831 comments · 18 Years

Is all that R&D spending going into Vision Pro? Because it's definitely not going into Apple's now singular AIO desktop. The M1 iMac has been out for 2.5 years, whilst the M2 has now been around for 18 months. Apple has had 18 months to put the M2 into the iMac but for some reason hasn't, despite all the previous handwringing that Intel was the reason Mac updates began to slow.

I can only think Apple was hoping to jump straight to the M3 for the iMac in ~October 2022, much like they were rumoured to for the Mac Pro, but as it was delayed they ended up with nothing for the iMac and a Mac Pro that appears to be a bodge.

Marvin 15342 comments · 18 Years

macxpress said:

I doubt Apple is releasing an iMac Pro. An iMac Pro just isn't necessary with Mac Studio available. There might be a larger screened iMac coming but it won't be a Pro. Just because it's a larger screen iMac doesn't make it an iMac Pro.

They would probably struggle to fit the Ultra chip into the chassis. The Ultra has a large heatsink that takes up most of the height of the device:

They wouldn't want to have the iMac that thick so this means they'd have to flatten the heatsink out and fit it with the two chips, fans, SSD, RAM into the chin area.

The old iMac Pro did it with the bulge at the back:

This was able to handle 370W, the Mac Studio Ultra is 295W:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208378
https://support.apple.com/en-us/102027

If they want to get a similar profile as the 24" model and not put the parts behind the display, it would be more likely they'd top out at the Max chips (145W). This would mean it couldn't replace the Studio. It would also be really expensive, an Ultra iMac would be nearly $6k.