The Apple silicon iMac is a line of all-in-one desktop Macs made by Apple Inc. The first Apple silicon iMac, with a 24-inch screen and an Apple M1 chip, was released on May 21, 2021, replacing the 21-inch and 27-inch Intel iMacs.
On June 22, 2020, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the Mac would shift from Intel processors to Apple's own in-house designed processors that use the ARM64 architecture, branded as Apple silicon. On April 20, 2021, Apple announced a 24-inch iMac based on the Apple M1 system on a chip.[2]
The iMac with M1 features a 4480-by-2520 (4.5K) built-in display, 1080p FaceTime camera with an improved image signal processor and three-microphone array, and a six-driver stereo speaker system with a pair of force-canceling woofers and a tweeter per side, that supports Dolby Atmos and spatial audio. It also adds support for Wi-Fi 6, USB4/Thunderbolt 3, and 6K output to run the Pro Display XDR. External display support is reduced to one display over USB-C/Thunderbolt; the previous 21.5-inch Intel-based model could drive two 4K displays over USB-C/Thunderbolt.[3] The models also include a magnetic power plug and external power supply that can be configured with a Gigabit Ethernet port.[4] On previous iMac models, the power brick was internal to the iMac. The M1 iMac's power cable is braided, and color-matched with the iMac.[5]
The iMac with M1 ships with a Magic Mouse 2 or Magic Trackpad 2 with a color-matching aluminum underside. It can be configured with one of three updated Magic Keyboards with rounded corners: a standard version, a version with a Touch ID sensor, and an extended layout version with a numeric keypad and Touch ID. The Magic Keyboards with Touch ID are compatible with other Mac computers with Apple silicon but only ship with the iMac.[6]
On October 30, 2023, Apple announced updated iMac models with the Apple M3 chip, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3.[7]
The iMac with M1 is the first iMac with a major redesign since 2012, with slimmer bezels, a flat back and seven color options, including silver and the same six colors used in Apple's first official logo.[8] It is the first iMac available in multiple colors since the iMac G3.[9] Jony Ive contributed to its design.[10]
Katie Collins from CNET said the design was a statement piece that served as a "symbol of hope" while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic; and also considered this to be part of an anti-minimalism trend, an end to "austerity" in product design.[8] Technology blogger John Gruber called it elegant and cheerful, and complimented its display, speaker quality, performance, and the addition of Touch ID to the keyboard.[11] Monica Chin from The Verge called the M1 iMac "simple, attractive, and very functional", concluding that it has "arguably the most widespread consumer appeal of any iMac"; she also found that the machine achieved higher single-core Geekbench performance scores "than any Mac we've ever seen before — even the iMac Pro".[12]
The M1 iMac has a repairability score of 2 out of 10.[13]