Apple did not make announcements on their hardware lineups at the annual company-sponsored WWDC. However, speculations are already floating online about purported specs and features of upcoming Apple products, including the 2016 edition of the iMac.
According to MacWorld UK, Apple will likely use the new AMD Polaris 10 chipset for the 2016 edition of the iMac. While the tech giant has yet to confirm this, speculations say Apple has already partnered with AMD for its graphics card, and both the Polaris 10 and Polaris 11 will feature in new Apple desktops and notebooks. Having top-tier graphics processors is common for the iMac since the desktop is preferred for graphics-intensive tasks.
In addition, featuring new GPUs from third-party partners is already expected by iMac fans as it has been some time since the Cupertino-based company introduced massive improvements and tweaks to its desktop series. Although Apple has introduced some key changes last year, industry followers listed it as model-specific improvements only, particularly the introduction of Retina-display models.
Meanwhile, since it is already expected that the iMac 2016 will be released with massive changes, heavy upgrades in the rest of the specs are also likely, such as new Sky Lake processors – Apple may even introduce Kaby Lake versions – faster storage drives, and the addition of new features like VR support. It is also expected that the new iMac will come out as an upgrade-ready desktop for the upcoming macOS Sierra.
As for the release date, there are rumors that the 2016 Apple lineup will appear later this year. Reportedly, the new iMacs may be revealed as early as October, and may even come out with other much-awaited Apple products like the iPhone 7 and the new iPad Air 3 and iPad Mini 5.
