Skip to main content

Report claims 27-inch Retina iMac w/ 5K display will arrive by end of year

imac-lego-movie

Following our report in July detailing Apple’s work on a new 4K display, today a report from Taiwan-based display researchers WitsView claims Apple will release a new 5K iMac by the end of this year.

Adding a little bit more weight to today’s report is the fact that Dell just announced a 27-inch 5120×2880 5K display that would be a likely candidate for a future Retina iMac panel if today’s rumors are true.

There have been several hints that Apple is working on a higher-resolution iMac that would introduce the pixel-doubled Retina resolution mode available to Apple’s Retina display equipped MacBooks. In June, code found in Apple’s upcoming OS X Yosemite release hinted at Retina resolution scaling options for a larger desktop-sized Mac. Those resolutions included 6400 x 3600 (probably a 3200×1800 HiDPI), 5760×3240 (2880×1620 HiDPI) 4096×2304 (2048×1152 HiDPI) resolutions, but didn’t reveal a native resolution for the device in question. Apple also recently added new resolution scaling options and improved support for 4K displays.

WitsView, which closely tracks the display industry and supply chain, claims Apple will release the new 27-inch 5K iMac by the end of the fourth quarter and that the release “is expected to spur a new wave of demand for ultra high-resolution monitors.”

FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.

You’re reading 9to5Mac — experts who break news about Apple and its surrounding ecosystem, day after day. Be sure to check out our homepage for all the latest news, and follow 9to5Mac on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to stay in the loop. Don’t know where to start? Check out our exclusive stories, reviews, how-tos, and subscribe to our YouTube channel

Comments

  1. Steve Grenier - 10 years ago

    Oh I certainly hope so. Although after paying over $1000 for a iPhone I don’t think my wallet would appreciate me buying another iMac.

  2. Kristjan Vuk - 10 years ago

    I am scared to see the price.

  3. capdorf - 10 years ago

    After deciding to skip the super sized iPhones, a replacement iMac would suit me.

    • dobqopdobqop - 10 years ago

      well, you may have to skip the iPhone forever. Cause there’ll be no more small one after ip6.

      • iphonery - 10 years ago

        In my perfect world, an iPhone 5/5s form factor with the 6 hardware would be awesome! Maybe Apple will keep 3 sizes in the mix for awhile to give future customer’s choices in size.

      • mikhailt - 10 years ago

        That may not be true. There are still plenty of bezel on the iPhone’s four sides. If they figure out how to minimize them to the smallest possible, you can have a smaller iPhone with the same.

        Imagine if they figure out how to place the home button/TouchID behind the screen, that’ll remove a lot of bezel on the bottom. There were a few patents filing that shows they’re interested in this.

      • PMZanetti - 10 years ago

        @mikhailt

        They don’t need to “figure out a way” to put Touch ID in the display…they purposely put it in the Home Button where it belongs.

  4. wadepmason - 10 years ago

    Why would it need native 5120×2880 resolution? First of all, that can’t be used for general computing purposes, the text would be tiny. Secondly, it’s just 2560×1440 scaled 2x. I don’t think there are many apps (aside from gaming, graphics, video) that could legitimately use that many pixels, so just scale everything 2x at first. Makes sense to me.

    • flaviosuave - 10 years ago

      “aside from gaming, graphics, video”

      Just, you know, the typical tasks of a large majority of the high-end Mac user base. ;)

    • Stetson - 10 years ago

      It needs a 5120×2880 panel to be able to do 2560×1440 @2x HiDPI mode (which is really 5120×2880 pixels but 2560×1440 UI points) without any blurring or scaling to fit the real display pixels.

    • charilaosmulder - 10 years ago

      You don’t understand. Nothing will be tiny. Everything will be just as big as on the current iMac, except twice as sharp if the apps or websites you use actually support retina, otherwise they’ll be as big and as sharp as on current iMacs.

      • wadepmason - 10 years ago

        I get that… The only reason they’re not tiny is because they’re up scaled or using distinct elements sized for that resolution. It’s still a 2x scale, so nothing at all has to happen just to launch a 5120×2880 display… But obviously changes would definitely occur to make it look good. It made it seem like some great mystery that the resolution wasn’t native… It doesn’t need to be, it’s scalable.

    • felixdeiters - 10 years ago

      I’d wager that almost everybody is going to benefit from this. And the sooner we get there, the better.
      The point isn’t to put more on the screen, everything would still be same size, but it would be so much sharper.
      Higher resolution means sharper text means less eye strain.

      I read a lot and I found myself picking up my phone for longer texts that require me to concentrate, because in the long run it is much less exhausting to read on the high-res screen, despite it’s small size.

      And since font-rendering is done by the OS (or better put: *should be*, looking at you Chrome…), most apps profit from a better screen without any changes to them.

    • Al Corbett (@albebaubles) - 10 years ago

      Try using the retina iPad simulator on a non retina display one time. annoying as shit.

    • Chris Vaccaro - 9 years ago

      That’s not how it works.

      They wouldn’t make the text smaller. I think you’re thinking of how it works on a Windows machine. Apple doesn’t do that kind of stuff. For example, they came out with the Retina MacBook Pros in 2012 and still had the regular, non-retina MacBooks. The text didn’t get twice as small. It got twice as sharp. The display was beautiful. Videos and pictures look life like. I’m typing one one now, and it’s the most beautiful display I’ve ever used. And every app benefits. If you use a Retina display for an hour then go back to a regular display, you realize how fuzzy and distorted regular monitors are in comparison to Retina.

    • Chris Vaccaro - 9 years ago

      Matter of fact, you can get a demo of the difference here:

      https://www.apple.com/macbook-pro/features-retina/

  5. Mr. Grey (@mister_grey) - 10 years ago

    I’m in the market for an iMac this year and am waiting for the update, but if this model is more money than the non-retina model (and they still offer it), that’s what I will go with.

    Retina is great if you have it, but it’s a classic boondoggle. Most everyone buying an iMac (or a MacBook for that matter) doesn’t actually need it.

    If they are just going to throw it in and keep prices much the same, then fine, but retina simply isn’t worth paying a premium for unless you are a serious video or photography professional.

    • Maurice Dallau - 10 years ago

      You should really try retina before you buy! Retina is just so much sharper. I’m no photography pro, just a programmer, but since I have my MacBook Retina I think my 1920×1200 Dell at work looks awful. Especially text is so beautiful, clear and sharp. It’s a joy to code on my MacBook ;-)

  6. scumbolt2014 - 10 years ago

    I’ll say this with sarcasm before someone really does: “What, no 8K display? You suck Apple.”

  7. Taste_of_Apple - 10 years ago

    I wonder what could power a 5k display given that current technology seems to max out at 4K. Not an expert, but they’d need that to avoid poor performance.

  8. airmanchairman - 10 years ago

    Retina iMac is what I’m waiting for, then I’m all in. Or a larger retina Cinema Display for my MaBook Pro

  9. Coderange - 10 years ago

    I am disparate to see when retina iMac would come. I wanted to buy Macbook Pro. 15′ inch but I will have to rethink on that.

  10. t3d (@robotstorm) - 10 years ago

    Hopefully they redesign it as well. It’s had the same basic design for ages now.

  11. Yes! This is the kind of news I like :) Im gonna get that and a iphone 6 plus. This could be a nice upgrade year after all!

  12. boardflyer (@boardflyer) - 10 years ago

    What about us longer suffering souls that are interested in a non-two year old Mac mini desktop?

  13. This is the equivalent of the 30″ Apple Cinema Display in 2004 which required the Power Mac G5 to run and cost $3299. Basically, if you have to ask how much this display is going to be, I don’t think you can afford it.

    I would instead recommend the Dell UP2414Q for ~$750 on Amazon. Slightly smaller screen and lower DPI (but still impressive at 183), but far more affordable and will run on a lot more computers. It’s going to take a couple of years for that 5K display to be cheap enough to fit into a Mac (it took 5 years after the 30″ Cinema Display for the iMac to get a comparable 1440p monitor).

  14. golfersal - 10 years ago

    I just really wise that Apple would give us a new monitor to replace the one that I have which is six years old. I use both USB 3 and firewire and those aren’t on the one’s for sale, isn’t it high time for Apple to give us a new monitor???

  15. PMZanetti - 10 years ago

    I’d be much happier with a Retina 21.5″ iMac. Where the heck is that product?

  16. 2gd4u - 10 years ago

    anyone no when Apple will release a 4K Macbook Pro?

  17. thinkman12345 - 10 years ago

    I have a DSLR that is 4K. If Apple does a 5K iMac,I hope they wait for Intel’s Broadwell chipset. I just bought a (pardon the blasphemy from someone who thought he’d never buy a Samsung product) 55″ 4K Curved display for my studio to display 4K images, as well as perhaps watch a video or two ; )

  18. gargravarr - 10 years ago

    I’ve been waiting to see what would happen to the iMac. This would be good, if the price is okay.

  19. thinkman12345 - 10 years ago

    Anyone who thinks they understand 4K, 5K or any of the Ks, should read this article (it’s VERY long, but TOTALLY fascinating) It features the man who invented the video robo-cam used to film the first Star Wars saga. It’s one of the most informative articles I’ve read, particularly on the digital resolution front!

    http://library.creativecow.net/galt_john/John_Galt_2K_4K_Truth_About_Pixels/1

Author

Avatar for Jordan Kahn Jordan Kahn

Jordan writes about all things Apple as Senior Editor of 9to5Mac, & contributes to 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, & Electrek.co. He also co-authors 9to5Mac’s Logic Pros series.