The iMac before Christmas: Apple's reportedly planning a Halloween treat

After almost a year of iMac rumours – starting with "Apple's skipping the M2 to wait for the M3 chip" and more recently, "Apple's changed its mind because the M3 chip isn't ready", it looks like the next generation 24-inch iMac is ready to launch - and we could see it next week, on either 30 or 31 October 2023.

That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, who says that Apple's iMac plans have changed considerably in recent months. The original idea was to release a larger iMac Pro, followed by a new 24-inch model. But the Pro is still in development and the 24-inch is not getting the M3 as originally planned. So if Apple is indeed refreshing the iMac next week, it's going to be an M2. M3s won't be here until 2024.

What's Apple launching for Halloween 2023?

According to Gurman Apple is planning "a Mac-centred product launch" on either the 30th or 31st of October, just days before its quarterly earnings results. Gurman's sources seem certain that the iMac will be the star, but it's also possible – albeit a remote possibility – that the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro, which are currently available with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips, will also get a refresh to the M3. "An additional update the same year would be unusual, but not inconceivable," he says.

Gurman points to Apple's retail stores as evidence that new iMacs and possibly more are imminent: whenever Apple is about to launch a new product, the existing models become hard to buy. And at the moment, Apple stores have very few iMacs. There also appear to be shortages of the 13-inch MacBook Pro and its bigger siblings, with many models now listing delivery times many weeks in advance. That delay, Gurman says, "is a clear sign that something is about to happen."

As for the iMac Pro, that's apparently still coming – albeit more slowly than intended, with a release date now expected in late 2024 or early 2025. Its 32-inch display will make it the biggest iMac of all time, and it's going to be aimed at the same kind of users who currently go for the Mac Studio or M2 Pro Mac mini.