Following the recent event Apple held on Sept. 7 to showcase the iPhone 7, iOS 10 and Watch OS 3.0, a report from Bloomberg reveals that the company is also releasing a brand-new lineup of iMacs this year, presumably by this October.
The new iMac will be running on the improved OS X Sierra, which is also set to launch by the end of September. It is pointed out in the report that this also means the desktop machine will come with new hardware such as an improved processor and graphics card to further set it apart from the previous iterations of the iMac.
However, the big draw to the iMac 2016 is its virtual function key panel. According to the report, the function panel will no longer be a set of physical keys and instead will feature digital buttons that will change depending on the program currently running.
When on the desktop, the function panel would display the traditional function keys to adjust brightness and media controls but when on a program such as the Safari web browser the keys will change to help users search and define terms faster. The iMovie video editor will have keys specific for cutting, combining and editing clips.
The report also states that the iMac 2016 will come with several new features such as Siri for desktop, Apple Pay for online transactions, improved integration with iCloud, animations for the iMessage app and integration with the Apple Watch. Other improvements will include faster processing speed due to the improved hardware.
It is important to note that an official date has not yet been announced although retail stores are expected to see the iMac roll out in October and the weeks that follow, along with an improved Apple Macbook Pro. They are launching several weeks following the launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus.
