I waited 900 days for an iMac update, and all I got was the M3 chip

One of the most interesting Macs of the Apple silicon era was the 24-inch iMac introduced during the Spring Loaded event in 2021. It was a bold move of Apple to move away from the industrial design of its past Intel iMacs and focus on a more joyful, colorful take. The company even added white bezels instead of black. Can you believe it?

The M1 was also ahead of its time, as many praised the first batch of Apple silicon Macs. Then, the months went by, and rumors started swirling about Pro and Max upgrades. Then we got the M1 Ultra chip, a brand-new Mac Studio, and more.

For over two years, Bloomberg has consistently reported that Apple wouldn’t release an iMac with the M2 chip, as it would instead focus on bringing more changes and enhancements to an M3 variant. The report was correct, and Apple indeed skipped the M2 generation for the desktop. But as rumors started to ramp up about the M3, Bloomberg once again said we shouldn’t expect anything more than a chip upgrade at the Scary Fast event.

Image source: Apple Inc.

I must admit I was skeptical about Mark Gurman’s report, and I thought Apple would at least announce new colors – an all-black M3 iMac, maybe. But no. The same iMac, the same ports, the same design, and the same colors. But a twice-as-fast chip.

So, that was it?

Not exactly. The new M3 processor is good news – I just hoped for more. Basically, there are three updates with this M3 iMac: the new chip, Wi-Fi 6E, and Bluetooth 5.3. Interestingly, Apple hasn’t even ditched the Lightning port on its Magic accessories in favor of USB-C – a surprise for anyone following Apple over the past year.

Image source: Apple Inc.

It’s not that the M3 iMac isn’t a great upgrade — it just took too long to get here, and, at the end of the day, it wasn’t a big enough deal. If you didn’t buy the previous 24-inch iMac, you’ll get everything we loved from the first version, but with everything twice as fast. But if you’re waiting for something else, like when Apple hyped us for the Mac Pro and then disappointed us, I know you have mixed feelings about this launch as well.

Since even macOS Sonoma seems a bit light on new features, I wonder if we’ll have to wait for an M4 generation or if the Cupertino company is saving something else for a future 27-inch M3 Pro iMac or even new displays for 2024.