As Apple continues to cull its catalogue of Intel-powered Macs, it looks like the 21.5-inch iMac is finally being put out to pasture. Yet another causality of Apple’s shift to using its homegrown M1 processor in every product.
Apple quietly pulled the entry-level PC from Apple Store Online this week, Mac Rumours reports. In a statement to the outlet, Apple confirmed that the machine is being discontinued and will no longer be sold in Apple stores. According to archived data reviewed by 9 to 5 Mac, the 21.5-inch iMac’s listing appears to have been taken down sometime on Friday. Not that it was particularly easy to find in the first place, as the listing had apparently been buried on a relatively hard-to-find store page. Additionally, when you bring up the 21.5-inch iMac on Apple’s product comparison page, a “Buy” button no longer appears beneath an image of the product.
As for the PC itself, Apple sold the 21.5-inch iMac in a single configuration that, for just $US1,099 ($1,462 AUD), got you a four-generation old, dual-core Intel processor, a 1080p display, and a terabyte of storage. Apple already dropped two other configurations, the options for 512GB and 1TB of SSD storage for the 21.5-inch iMac with 4K display, back in March.
The discontinuation comes just six months after Apple first showed off its M1-powered iMacs, which joined the ranks of product lines like the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini that Apple has revamped with its new proprietary processor.
This is all pretty much par for the course for Apple. Even before it started phasing out its Intel-powered machines and shifting over to the M1 processor, the tech giant has a history of keeping its legacy Macs and other outdated product lines available for a while before quietly axing them without offering any explanation. We’ve reached out to Apple for comment and will update this blog should we hear back.
Apple’s lineup of Intel-based iMacs isn’t completely dead yet, though. For now, you can still get a 27-inch iMac in a couple of different configurations, but how long those will remain available is anyone’s guess. Rumour has it Apple is planning to roll out a revamped 27-inch iMac Pro with a mini-LED display and the latest M1 Pro and M1 Max chips as soon as the first half of 2022.