Apple has been a little non-specific in its recent rhetoric surrounding its upcoming desktop devices, fuelling concerns that the Cupertino-based tech giant was sidelining them in favor of its other ranges like the popular MacBook Pro and iPad Pro.
The last time we saw a new iMac was back in October 2015, so 2017 is ripe for an upgrade. The question is whether we'll see an upgrade any time soon.
The reason why there's been some hope for a release in March is that Apple has previously used this month to release devices. Apple fans will recall that the tech firm launched its latest 9.7-inch iPad Pro and iPhone SE back in March 2016.
So it's possible that at the very least, we could get an announcement out of Apple regarding its new iMac before the month is out.
However, there's been no concrete signals yet from Apple. The last they said on the matter was late last year when CEO Tim Cook assured that they were indeed developing desktops as part of their future line-up.
"Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we're committed to desktops. If there's any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that," he said.
In fact, he went as far as to say that desktops were "very strategic" for Apple. So, in a busy year of launches and upgrades for them, we can only hope that they've got room to squeeze in a new iMac.
In terms of what we can expect under the hood, there is some speculation that Apple will choose AMD over Intel, specifically the AMD Ryzen.
The chips are powerful and would possibly bring the price down, but as Droid Report notes, they do have their downside, particularly in the desktop's gaming capacity.
But then again, gamers might not really be where Apple is placing its focus with the new iMac as it recently indicated it wants to concentrate its products on professional customers. It would be reasonable to assume Apple's primary consideration would be creative professionals over gamers.
That would also diminish the chances of the desktop having VR capability, as The Christian Post notes.
It's also possible that Apple will roll out the upgraded iMac with a 27-inch 5K resolution screen and 32 GB of memory in addition to the 2 TB Fusion Drive.
It's exciting to think where Apple might take this already awesome desktop.
