A report surfacing from the famously hit-and-miss DigiTimes claims Apple is preparing to release a Retina-displaying iMac as early as October. Consumers were dazzled by the sharp display of the MacBook Pro with Retina display unveiled at WWDC this year, and although natural progression suggests the rest of the line-up will follow suit, most presumed we would be waiting until at least early next year.
The DigiTimes report cites the clichéd "upstream supply chain sources," and reckons Apple’s suppliers will begin shipping the new iMac’s components as early as this month. The same sources also corroborate the notion of across the board "Retinization," of the Cupertino, Calif.-based company’s range of computers, and with the iMac running all the way up to 27" in screen diameter, it would be one of the most pixel-rich displays ever seen.
The big Retina push is said to me a move by Apple to outdo rivals in the display stakes, and with the components for the Retina display costing quite a bit (more battery life is needed in notebooks also), rivals are unlikely to follow suit at this present time.
iMac aside briefly, the ultrabook market, which will now begin releasing units packing the new Ivy Bridge chip from Intel, is currently struggling to compete with the MacBook Air, with poor general sales. One suspects a Retina-enabled MacBook Air – expected to arrive sometime next year – could deal the final nail in the coffin of the ultrabook unless vendors decide to offer higher-res displays.
As well as the new iMac in October, both the iMac and Mac Pro could be subject to a huge overhaul next year, with brand-new models offering more power and better performance than the current fleet. The Mac Pro hasn’t been changed significantly for the past few years, and although some skeptics suspected it could be on its way out, DigiTimes believes a big update is nigh.
Since it is indeed from DigiTimes, we’re taking the report with a pinch of salt at present. Although a Retina iMac for October is by no means an impossibility, the preoccupation of iOS 6 and the next iPhone – both expected to land around September-October time – would certainly steal the thunder away from a fairly significant iMac refresh.
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