Apple did not unveil any hardware to go with its brand new software products at WWDC 2014, but the company may have several hardware announcements brewing for later this year. In addition to new iPhones and iPads, Apple could also unveil new Macs, including the first ever Retina iMac all-in-one lineup. The company’s OS X Yosemite operating system, which is already available to developers, apparently includes support for Retina iMacs, a Macbidouille reader has discovered.
According to that Mac user, a Yosemite file reveals that a future iMac model will support various scaled resolution modes including 6400 x 3600, 5760 x 3240 and 4096 x 2304, with the native resolution of the all-in-one having not been listed.
Apple’s current iMac lineup includes two models, a 21.5-inch version with 1920 x 1080 display and a 27-inch model with 2560 x 1440 resolution. These iMacs have display densities of over 100 pixel per inch (ppi) each and “become Retina” – or “so sharp that the human eye is unable to distinguish between pixels at a typical viewing distance” – at over 30 inches, according to IsThisRetina.com.
Comparatively, Apple’s Retina MacBook Pro models (13- and 15-inch), have displays densities of over 220 ppi each, and become Retina at around 15 inches. It’s not clear whether Apple plans to increase the display resolution of 2014 iMac models to around 220 ppi, but in order for iMacs to offer the same Retina performance as Retina MacBook Pros, they’d need to have a native resolution around 4K.
What’s apparently clear is that Apple is indeed working on new iMac models, as this is the second time traces of iMac 15,1 has been found in OS X. Before WWDC, the same model number has been seen in OS X 10.9.4 developer preview. Apple’s latest iMacs are part of the iMac 14,1 family and have been released in late 2013.
It wouldn’t be surprising to see Apple launch new iMac models, and maybe a new MacBook Air as well, once Yosemite is ready for public launch.
