The one thing that didn’t happen at WWDC 2020 was the announcement of an updated iMac. It now appears that August could see the announcement of a new Intel-powered iMac but would you buy it? Based on our recent poll asking when, or if, you would buy an Apple Silicon powered Mac, it would seem you might be more likely to buy a tried and tested Intel-powered Apple computer like the new iMac. We have all the details…
New iMac Coming Soon?
There were a plethora of rumours on the run-up to this year’s on-line WWDC, which ended up being about the only rumour that didn’t come about during WWDC 2020. What’s more, the rumour machine then went completely silent about a new iMac until now.
Right, should make this known
— Jiorīku (@Jioriku) July 26, 2020
The iMac redesign IS NOT coming for this 10th generation Intel refresh.
They are saving it for their own silicon
If you want the new iMac, keep an eye out for August.
— Jon Prosser (@jon_prosser) July 26, 2020
No redesign.
There was a tweet from komiya_kj which outlined a timetable of Apple releases including a new iMac, AirPods Studio, HomePod 2 and HomePod Mini all to be announced via Apple's website on August 19th. However, this tweet is ‘no longer available’.
Since then we have seen two more tweets, the first from a much more reliable source Jon Prosser. Then backing up Jon’s claim is a second tweet from another Apple leaker called Jioriku, who also claimed that the upcoming iMac won’t be a redesigned machine.
This suggests that the new 2020 iMac will simply get a refreshed specs boost, with a 10th Gen Intel Core processors and perhaps some enhanced graphics options.
On reflection, perhaps this isn’t a huge surprise, as Apple made it clear in their WWDC Keynote back in June that they have plans to release more new Intel-powered Mac computers. It would also seem they are saving the redesign, that was rumoured to be announced at WWDC, to include a 24-inch screen in the same form factor as the existing 21-inch model, until they release an Apple Silicon powered iMac sometime in the future.
So if you are in the market for a new all-in-one Apple computer then this new iMac might be the one for you, to give you a powerful machine, in your prefered form factor, until Apple releases the Arm-based Apple Silicon model in a couple of years.
Apple Silicon Macs - How Soon Will You Be Buying One? - The Results
In a recent poll, we asked you to tell us if and when you might buy an Apple Silicon Mac. We intentionally split the poll into two categories - professional and hobbyist as we appreciate the decisions can be different for the two categories…
Professionals
Hobbyist
Not Anytime Soon
Professionals made up 83% of the respondents and hobbyist were 17%. What is interesting is that the overwhelming percentage of both categories are not planning to buy an Apple Silicon powered Mac computer anytime soon.
However, in both categories, most people who are planning to buy one are likely to take up to 2 years to make a decision to make the switch. Which isn’t the Apple user response we are used to.
There is a lot we don’t know yet about Apple Silicon Macs, not least of which is how soon before we know whether our favourite software will run on Apple Silicon. In addition, if you look at the number of old-style Mac Pro cheese-graters that are still in use, we clearly all aim to get as much use out of our existing Macs as possible.
Based on those 2 factors and these poll results we suspect that as long as Apple continues to support Intel-powered Apple computers, the changeover to Apple Silicon powered could be a slow one.
Things May Change
However, this may change once we can see Apple Silicon Macs in the flesh and software we use is proved to run well using Rosetta 2, or better still, has been recoded to run natively on Apple Silicon. At that point, we plan to re-run the poll to see if there is a shift in the planned take-up in Apple Silicon.
What About You?
What do you make of the results of this first poll on Apple Silicon? Is this what you expected at this point, or are you surprised at the slow take-up of Apple Silicon? Do share your thoughts in the comments below.