One prominent analyst expects new Haswell-based iMacs this month or next

We’ve heard nothing of new Haswell iMacs in the pipeline but prominent Apple Analyst Mingchi Kuo from KGI securities thinks they are on the way:

What’s new
We forecast iMac shipments to be 650k units in 2Q13, down 63% from 1.75mn units in 1Q13. We expect shipments to pick up in 3Q13 as Apple (US) launches Haswell iMac and peak season arrives. Full-year shipments are set to reach 4.7mn units.
Analysis
We attribute the shipments decline to the fact that new product shipments have peaked and due to the arrival of the consumer slow season. But we believe iMac shipments troughed in 2Q13. Apple is expected to upgrade iMac processor to Intel’s (US) latest Haswell processor in June or July. Meanwhile, the consumer peak season has arrived. Thus we expect shipments to reach 1.1mn units in 3Q13, up 69% QoQ. Full-year shipments are forecast to be 4.7mn units, up 31% YoY.

Even a July launch, if the analyst is correct, could warrant a mention at today’s WWDC. Apple did announce the current iMacs months ahead of schedule but Tim Cook subsequently told analysts at an earnings call that he regretted the decision citing some variant of the Osborne effect hurting sales.

When Apple first launched the all new, slimmed down iMac lineup leading up to the holidays in October of last year, Tim Cook quickly confirmed that Apple would run into some significant component constraints and delays for the product. The months following launch saw major delays with customers ordering the product having to wait weeks to receive their shipments and some models pushed back as far as December.

Kuo has been accurate enough in the past to warrant mentioning but his weakness has been his timings of releases so let’s keep the expectations low.

We’ll be covering every aspect of today’s WWDC so stay tuned.