Apple is set to release a brand new iMac 2021 later this year, powered by an Apple Silicon chip. Or at least it looks that way, thanks to a discovery by DaftCloud developer Dennis Oberhoff.
Oberhoff has discovered an unreleased ARM-based iMac in his app’s Xcode crash log. Considering past iMacs don’t use ARM architecture, it can only mean there’s an Apple Silicon version on the way. Considering how well the MacBook Pro M1 and MacBook Air M1 have been performing, this can only be a good thing.
- Everything we know about the 16-inch MacBook Pro 2021
- iPhone 13: Release date, price, specs and leaks
- Just in: iPad Pro 2021 coming in April with M1 power and mini-LED display
DaftCloud is a third party SoundCloud application for macOS, and this screenshot means the software crashed while running on an ARM iMac. Obviously this means that an Apple Silicon iMac is not just coming, but actively being used by people behind the scenes.
Look what just leaked through the Xcode Crashreporter for macOS. iMac - ARM64 :-) pic.twitter.com/tPr4mYhYvUMarch 17, 2021
9to5Mac investigated Oberhoff’s crash report, and concluded that this is legit. So the crash really did occur on an ARM64 machine, and the device family matches the iMac. However, the site points out that Apple has a history of cleaning up reports to avoid these sorts of leaks. So there isn't much else we can glean from this.
Of course, this isn’t the first time we’ve heard about an Apple Silicon iMac coming. Back in January Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that one would be arriving later this year. Gurman also promised that the new machine “will be one of the biggest visual updates to any Apple product this year”.
The iMac 2021 has been tipped to include a new mini-LED display with thinner bezels, and the design itself may come in as many as five colors.
In addition, Apple has just discontinued the iMac Pro, meaning there is a gap in its line-up that an Apple Silicon iMac could easily fill. Considering there’s rumored to be an Apple event in April, we could hear about the new iMac sooner rather than later.
Apple already seems to have a lot planned for this year, including the launch of a new iPad Pro range, an upgraded 16-inch MacBook Pro running on the M1 chip, the iPhone 13, and possibly even the super-charged M1X chip.
- More: MacBook Pro with M1 review: This is peak MacBook
