Apple set to skip the M2 iMac and go straight to M3 in late 2023, report says

If you've been saving your pennies and waiting for Apple to update the current 24-inch M1 iMac to the newer, beefier M2, you're going to be in for a long wait. Because it isn't happening.

That's according to one well-connected reporter who says that Apple will instead choose to skip the model entirely, launching an updated M3 iMac towards the end of 2022. That means that the current model will have been on the market for well over two years before it gets its replacement.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman is the man with the plan, reporting via his Power On newsletter that Apple doesn't look set to give buyers anything to spend their money on any time soon.

2

24-inch Apple iMac - Image source: apple.com

"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," wrote Gurman when asked about Apple's plans. "So if you want to stick with the iMac, you'll just have to sit tight."

The M2 chip is already offered in the MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, and Mac mini but it now doesn't look set to make the jump to one of Apple's most obvious homes for it. Instead, the M3 will be used if Gurman's report is to be believed. If so, that'll be an all-new chip that will be based on chipmaker TSMC's 3nm fabrication process. That alone doesn't ensure improved performance, but it should mean lower power consumption and better thermal characteristics. As a result, faster chips are normally made possible.

If this is the plan for the 24-inch iMac, some will wonder what Apple has in store for two of its forgotten models. The 27-inch 5K iMac and 27-inch iMac Pro are long dead, with no real replacement having been offered. The Mac Studio and Studio Display combination is the closest thing currently offered, but there is nothing quite like that all-in-one look and experience that the iMac lineup is so popular for.

With the M3 chip months away we're still waiting for one Mac to make the jump to Apple silicon. The Mac Pro still uses Intel Xeon chips, with an M2 Ultra part now expected to power the first Apple silicon Mac Pro ever. When that will happen, nobody really seems to know. But problems creating an "Extreme" chip have reportedly pushed Apple away from that plan, with the M2 Ultra now expected to be used as and when the Mac Pro is finally announced.

• Read more: Apple's new iMac: M1 chip, 4.5K display, impressively thin