With the first impressions and unboxing stories of the 24-inch iMac with M3 now available, The Verge confirmed with Apple that the company isn’t planning on releasing a 27-inch iMac with Apple Silicon at all.
While that might sound like bad news, I would say otherwise, as the company only said it doesn’t plan on releasing a 27-inch iMac, but not that it isn’t working on a larger display device.
Apple PR representative Starlayne Meza confirmed the company’s plans to The Verge. The company encourages those who have been holding out hope for a larger iMac to consider the Studio Display and Mac Studio or Mac mini, which pair a 27-inch 5K screen with a separate computer, compared to the all-in-one design of the iMac.
Rumors so far say Apple has been testing monitors with 32-inch displays. Last month, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo reported that Apple was working on a high-end 32-inch iMac with a miniLED display for 2025. Although Kuo was wrong about the 24-inch iMac timeframe (in this story, he said Apple would release this M3 iMac in 2024), it doesn’t mean he’s wrong about the second part.
Previously, Apple has differentiated its iMacs by size and processor, with two versions of the iMac and a single Pro model. It’s unclear if this new desktop could be named Pro, although Apple could plan a computer with the Max or Ultra processors, so users can choose between an all-in-one or buying the Mac Studio/Mac Pro plus the Studio Display/Pro Display XDR.
That said, despite this upcoming larger iMac, Apple might be planning new displays. In July, Bloomberg‘s Mark Gurman reported that Cupertino was working on multiple new monitors, including likely successors of the 2019 Pro Display XDR and the 2022 Studio Display.
More interesting, Apple also plans to release a monitor that could be used as a smart display when the Mac is idle. Some ideas include displaying weather and calendar information – which Apple just previewed with iOS 17’s StandBy mode.
Unfortunately, Gurman doesn’t expect a new Apple monitor to land before 2024 “at the earliest,” so regular users can confidently buy the Studio Display, and professionals should wait a bit longer for a Pro Display XDR replacement.
With that in mind, Apple is indeed working on larger displays, but don’t expect them to release in 2023 or 2024. Thankfully, the good news is that these machines are coming.
