A few weeks ago, MacRumors discovered some internal code that referenced an iMac with the unreleased M5 Max chip. This further suggests that Apple is continuing to develop either a larger or higher-end iMac model on top of the current 24-inch model, which would further give Apple the opportunity to revive its “iMac Pro” brand. This may be one of the most exciting products to see as soon as 2026. To explain why, let’s take a trip down memory lane.
History
Back in 2013, Apple introduced the radically redesigned Mac Pro, which was a significant departure from the “cheese-grater” design we all knew and loved. It instead featured a cylindrical design that some folks dubbed the “trash can” Mac Pro. Although the design was ahead of its time, it was thermally limited. Apple even admitted that it was a failure, and the company even went back to the drawing board to redesign the Mac Pro from scratch.
However, since the Mac Pro’s next design wouldn’t come out until 2019, Apple didn’t want to keep its pro customers waiting, so Apple introduced the iMac Pro at WWDC 2017 as a “stopgap” product. Although the iMac Pro had a display that was identical to the regular 27-inch iMac at the time, it was more than just a beefier version of the 27-inch iMac; in fact, it featured the highest-end Intel Xeon processors (up to 18 cores), and it could be configured to up to 256GB of memory and up to 4TB of internal storage. The iMac Pro also came in the stunning Space Gray finish, and as this was an all-in-one, it included both the Magic Keyboard with Numeric Keypad and the Magic Mouse by default (the Magic Trackpad was also offered as an optional configuration). The iMac Pro went on sale starting in December of that year, and it retailed starting at $4,999.
However, with the redesigned Mac Pro in 2019 and more frequent updates to the regular iMac line, the iMac Pro never received any hardware revisions or got to live a longer life as Apple quietly discontinued its all-in-one workstation around March 2021. That was when Apple was at the beginning of the transition of the Mac lineup from Intel processors to its own Apple Silicon. Apple suggested customers who were looking for a higher-end all-in-one to consider the 27-inch iMac, which last saw a spec refresh in August 2020. The following month, Apple debuted the 24-inch iMac with the M1 chip, which brought the first radically thin design for any Apple Silicon Mac, and it featured seven fun colors to pay homage to the original iMac’s design. That M1 iMac replaced the 21.5-inch 4K iMac, leaving just the aging non-Retina 21.5-inch iMac (which would eventually be axed in October 2021) and the higher-end 27-inch 5K iMac as the only iMac models with Intel processors.
With the launch of the redesigned iMac, customers have been anticipating the immediate replacement of the 27-inch Intel iMac; however, when Apple introduced both the Mac Studio and Studio Display in March 2022, Apple quietly discontinued the 27-inch Intel iMac. With no sign of an immediate replacement of the larger iMac, it seems that Apple was favoring a modular setup over an all-in-one setup. When Apple updated the 24-inch iMac with the M3 chip in October 2023, the company said in an interview with The Verge that it had no plans to release a 27-inch iMac with Apple Silicon since the 24-inch 4.5K display was the happy medium between the 21.5-inch 4K display and the 27-inch 5K display; however, it became clear that pro customers would miss having the 5K display for that extra precious screen real-estate. Despite denying claims from Apple, Mark Gurman from Bloomberg and Ming-Chi Kuo declared that Apple was developing a larger 32-inch iMac that would feature mini-LED backlighting, and Kuo claimed that it would launch sometime in 2025. However, as we’re on the last few days of 2025, that rumor would never come to fruition.
What we can expect from this revived iMac Pro
So that brings us to today. With the recent rumor of an iMac with an unreleased M5 Max chip, I think it’s safe to say that a larger, higher-end iMac is starting to become a reality. With several rumors about a larger Apple Silicon iMac we’ve been hearing from time to time, I believe the main reason that Apple has been holding off on delivering such a product is that Apple wants to go above and beyond creating just a larger version of the 24-inch iMac. Apple wants to make another iMac model that’s far more advanced than the current iMac, and one of the biggest differentiating features would be to have a “killer” display. In other words, as we live in the age of high dynamic range (HDR) content, pro customers would need to have the best display or reference monitor to work with HDR content, and the quality of the displays on Apple’s devices is no exception. Since OLED displays are becoming cheaper to produce, as Apple is also rumored to develop an upcoming consumer-level iMac with a 24-inch OLED display with 600 nits of maximum brightness, we could potentially see this revival of the “iMac Pro” featuring an OLED display as well. Since this will obviously be a Pro product, it has got to have the most advanced display tech, so instead of a single-stacked OLED panel as rumored on the upcoming non-Pro iMac, this iMac Pro would feature double-stacked OLED panels, which would effectively feature the same, remarkable tandem OLED display technology found in the iPad Pro as well as potentially on the upcoming redesigned MacBook Pro models with the M6 Pro/Max chips, which are expected to launch as soon as late 2026. This remarkable display technology would allow for even higher brightness levels, superior color accuracy, and more stunning contrast ratios that are well-suited for HDR content.
In terms of Apple Silicon, we could see an M5 Max making its way to the iMac Pro, but Apple could have another iMac Pro model with the M5 Ultra, although that would take away sales from the upcoming Mac Studio, which was rumored to feature the M5 Ultra as well. However, I could see Apple offering the iMac Pro with the M5 Pro instead to not only close the gap between the regular 24-inch iMac with the base M-series chip and the iMac Pro with the M5 Max chip, but also bring the starting price down a bit as a more affordable alternative to something like the Studio Display paired with a Mac mini or Mac Studio. This would give customers more choices between an all-in-one setup and a modular setup.
Release Timeframe
In terms of release date, there haven’t been any rumors about when this iMac Pro would be released, but since we expect the M5 Pro/Max chips to be announced in the first quarter of 2026, I’d expect Apple to announce this iMac Pro by the end of 2026 so that Apple could announce the M6 family of chips the following year. With the resurfacing of the iMac Pro, it looks like 2026 is going to be another huge year for the Mac yet.
