Apple could release an iMac featuring its own chip sooner rather than later. MacRumors reported that several configurations of the all-in-one computer have been removed from the company’s website, which suggests that they have been discontinued.
MacRumors said the 512GB and 1TB SSD options have disappeared from the 21.5-inch iMac’s page on the Apple website. Those options were previously greyed out, so there was a fair chance they would return, but now they seem to be gone for good.
These aren’t the first iMac models to be discontinued—Apple said earlier this month that it would no longer offer the iMac Pro after it sold through its current inventory. Now it seems the company’s making its way through the rest of the iMac lineup.
Why? Probably because Apple said when it introduced the M1 chip in November 2020 that it expected to equip all of its Macs with custom silicon in about two years. So far it’s updated the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini product lines.
The iMac would be the logical next step. The all-in-ones already sit in between the Mac mini and the Mac Pro when it comes to cost and performance. It would make sense for Apple to put its own chips in the iMac before moving on to the Mac Pro.
The company also hasn’t given the iMac a meaningful update in years. They’ve had a few spec bumps, sure, but for the most part, it reserved the big new features for the iMac Pro. (And even that only received modest upgrades after its 2017 debut.)
Bloomberg reported in January that Apple plans to change that by announcing redesigned iMacs featuring its own silicon later this year. Discontinuing the iMac Pro and these two models of the 21.5-inch iMac could help the company make that shift.
That doesn’t mean the current iMac‘s already gone: Apple still lists several configurations of the 21.5- and 27-inch models on its website. Just don’t be surprised if more of them disappear in the weeks leading up to the company’s next event.
