Apple Announced the 24-Inch iMac Three Years Ago Today
Today marks the three-year anniversary of Apple's announcement of the 24-inch iMac, a transformative redesign featuring the first integration of Apple silicon in the product line.
Apple unveiled the new 24-inch iMac on April 20, 2021, almost nine years after the previous iMac redesign debuted. It replaced both the 21.5-inch and the 27-inch Intel iMacs, and represented a recommitment to the long-standing desktop product line.
The highly anticipated redesign offers a much thinner and more compact body compared to its predecessors, available in an array of vibrant colors reminiscent of the original iMacs released in the late 1990s. The 24-inch 4.5K Retina display boasts 11.3 million pixels and support for 1 billion colors.
The new model was not only notable for its updated design but also as the inaugural iMac to incorporate Apple silicon, one of the last Macs to make the transition away from Intel. Apple claimed that the M1 chip delivered up to 85% faster CPU performance and up to two-times faster GPU performance compared to the previous 21.5-inch iMac models. The new iMac also offered a 1080p FaceTime HD camera, studio-quality microphones, and a six-speaker sound system, as well as a color-matched Magic Keyboard with Touch ID.
Apple refreshed the 24-inch iMac with the M3 chip, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3 in November 2023. Rumors suggest that a larger-screened iMac that could be positioned as an iMac Pro will launch in 2025. In June 2023, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that the high-end iMac was a year or two away from launching as work on the device was still in the early stages.
Popular Stories
On May 13, OpenAI during its Spring Update announced that it would be releasing a desktop ChatGPT app for the Mac in the "coming weeks," and said that ahead of a wider launch it had started rolling out the app to some ChatGPT Plus subscribers. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. After testing the app for a few days, we thought it was worth sharing some reasons why...
Best Buy today kicked off its Memorial Day weekend sale, and it has some of the best prices we've tracked in weeks on iPads and MacBooks. Specifically, you'll find record low prices on the 5th generation iPad Air, iPad mini 6, M2 MacBook Air, and M3 MacBook Pro. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment,...
With the macOS 15 update that is set to debut at WWDC in June, Apple plans to rearrange "menus and app UIs," according to a report from AppleInsider. The System Settings app, which was last updated with macOS Ventura, will get one of the biggest updates. With macOS Ventura, Apple renamed the System Preferences app to System Settings, introducing a design similar to the Settings app on the...
Given Apple's rumored plan to add an all-new high-end tier to its iPhone 17 series in 2025, this could be the year for Apple to bring its boldest "Pro Max" model to the table — the kind of iPhone 16 upgrade that stands tall above its siblings, both figuratively and literally. If you have been holding out for the iPhone 16 Pro Max, here are five of the biggest changes rumored to be coming...