Apple’s all-in-one desktop range is set for a shakeup with a report Thursday that the company will be launching a new 21.5 inch iMac with 4k screen.

9to5Mac claims that Apple is planning to announce the refreshed version of the smaller iMac by the end of October alongside the new version of its operating system OS X known as “El Capitan,” with shipping of the new iMac beginning in November.

The new 21.5 inch iMac’s 4K display is said to have a resolution of 4096 x 2304, up from the current model’s screen resolution of 1920 x 1080; by comparison the top of the range 27 inch iMac currently ships with a 5K screen that offers a 5120×2880 native resolution.

In a reasonable guess the report also notes that the adoption of a 4K screen with the 21.5 inch iMac will probably result in a significant price rise, however like the 27 inch model a cheaper model with lower screen resolution will probably be kept available for sale to those who want an iMac but don’t want to spend the extra money for the better screen.

Previous speculation also has the new 21.5 inch iMac being shipped with a new CPU, although it doesn’t take a rocket scientist, or in this case a tech analyst, to know that Apple upgrades the internals in their devices with every new product launch.

Refresh

Although the externals of the iMac haven’t changed for some years and are unlikely to change with the new models, the line itself has started to somewhat become stale; there’s not a huge world of difference between a 2013 iMac and a 2015 model excepting perhaps the screen resolution on the high end 27 inch model.

Updating the visuals on the 21.5 inch model is a start, but whether it will boost sales of the product is another matter; price will also come into the mix given Apple’s iMac range is already sold with a premium price tag making them luxury items for some versus the various types of beige and boring PC’s running Windows.

If the new iMac doesn’t suffer from a serious price increase it may well boost Apple’s bottom line through increased sales.

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