A recent report revealed that the earliest time to expect a new 24-inch iMac is late 2023, as Apple has no plan to launch the desktop soon. 

In his latest newsletter, Gurman claims that Apple will skip updating the 24-inch iMac with its latest M2 chip. Instead, the Cupertino-based tech giant intends to release an M3 chip-powered model. Since Apple hasn’t announced a third iteration of its M-series silicon, we may not see a new 24-inch iMac until late in the year — maybe even 2024, says Gurman. 

“I haven’t seen anything to indicate there will be a new iMac until the M3 chip generation, which won’t arrive until the tail end of this year at the earliest or next year,” writes Gurman. “So if you want to stick with the iMac, you’ll just have to sit tight.”

A new 24-inch iMac Powered By Apple’s M3 Chip

In 2021, Apple launched a new 24-inch iMac with the M1 chip. Besides the Apple Silicon, the desktop computer has an ultra-thin design in seven colors. These include yellow, blue, pink, silver, purple, green, and orange. 

However, the tech giant has since updated its other M1-powered products with the M2 chip. 

For example, a new M2 MacBook Air with a thinner design and improved performance rolled out in June 2022. Then earlier in the year, Apple announced the new M2 Pro/Max 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro, including an M2 Mac mini. 

Meanwhile, the iMac still has the M1 chip and is unlikely to receive the M2 chip upgrade. But that may not be a terrible thing. 

Reports suggest that Apple’s forthcoming M3 chip will be manufactured based on TSMC’s 3nm process. That’s an improvement over the M2 chip based on TSMC’s second-generation 5nm process.

Besides delivering more performance than the current chip, the forthcoming M3 should also feature improvements in power efficiency.