Key Takeaways
- The 24-inch iMac is likely to receive a hardware refresh soon, possibly with the M3 chip, as it has not been updated since it relaunched in 2021 with the M1 chip.
- The 13-inch MacBook Pro is also expected to receive a refresh.
- Apple’s update schedule and the back-orders for some MacBook Pro models suggest that the M3 chip and new hardware revisions may be imminent, but there are no guarantees.
We might not have long left, but Apple seemingly isn’t finished with October by any stretch. It looks like it could be planning a refresh of the 24-inch iMac sooner rather than later.
That’s according to Mark Gurman, one of the most reliable voices in the tech industry when it comes to Apple’s plans – he’s predicting a hardware refresh in a few different areas.
One of these will seemingly be the 24-inch iMac, which hasn’t been touched since it first relaunched with the M1 chip on board in 2021, two years ago.
The newer M2 chips have now been around for some time, and there are a whole heap of rumours around the M3 chip that haven’t yet been substantiated by any official announcement from Apple.
So, while a refresh to the iMac feels like a no-brainer, it’s far from certain whether it’ll actually be the machine to usher in the M3, or ship with the M2 instead.
More new arrivals
Gurman thinks it won’t be the only new arrival, either, with a likely refresh of the 13-inch MacBook Pro also very much on the cards, although in both cases there’s no guarantee of any meaningful design upgrades.
If the MacBook Pro lineup is indeed getting a minor update then the likelihood of the M3 chip accompanying it probably goes up by a decent notch, so this will be one to watch.
Apple’s own chips have been on a roughly annual update schedule so far, so there’s certainly a heck of a lot of logic behind the assumption that the M3 is imminent. Gurman also rightly points out that some MacBook Pro models are also on quite lengthy back-orders on Apple’s own store, which sometimes heralds new hardware revisions on the way.
That said, there are really no guarantees here, and Apple famously plays all of its updates and events close to the chest – so while this might mean we’ll soon get notice of a late-October event or stream, or indeed that new models simply appear on the Apple Store at a certain point, don’t hold your breath too hard.