When Apple updated the iMac earlier this month, the company kept the same design and it felt like it was mostly about slightly upgraded hardware. This led to speculation that the company was probably holding off on introducing its new design for its own custom silicon, and it looks like we’ll have to wait until 2021 to find out.
In a report from the China Times, they are alleging that Apple will be launching a new iMac in 2021 where it will not only be sporting Apple’s custom silicon, but it will apparently also come with a custom GPU. According to the report, they cite industry insiders who pointed out that Apple’s ARM chipsets will not support AMD GPUs, which is what is being used in Apple’s current Mac lineup.
Given that Apple has not worked with NVIDIA for years, it is expected that we will be seeing not just custom CPUs, but GPUs in future Mac computers as well. Interestingly enough, this is actually not the first time we’re hearing about this. Way back in 2017, there were already reports that Apple was looking to develop their own custom GPUs, although it was for mobile.
However, with Apple’s custom chipsets seemingly based on their A-series which can be found on iPhones and iPads, we suppose it doesn’t really come as a complete surprise.