Apple Withdraws Intel-Based IMacs From Its Stores, Claimed To Advance M1 Chip Business

Apple has discontinued production of the 21.5-inch iMac. (photo: doc. Unsplash)

JAKARTA - Apple quietly discontinued the 21.5-inch iMac about half a year after introducing its new chipset, the M1.

The entry-level PC that has a large size is no longer found in Apple's online store or retail. From reports circulating, the company has stopped sales from last October 29.

The company does have a long history of holding on to old Macs for a while, before quietly dropping them, but rarely elaborates on those decisions.

In a statement to MacRumors quoted from The Verge, Monday, November 1, Apple confirmed that the 21.5-inch iMac machine is being discontinued and will no longer be sold in Apple stores. Also, when opening a 21.5-inch iMac product on the Apple site, the "Buy" button no longer appears below the product image.

For information, the 21.5-inch iMac is equipped with a four-generation old dual-core Intel processor, a 1080p display, and 1TB of storage. The same device with a 4K display having 512GB and 1TB SSD storage options also disappeared last March.

The discontinuation comes just six months after Apple first showcased the M1 chip on the iMac, which joins the lineup of products such as the MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, and Mac Mini.

However, Apple's line of Intel-based iMacs isn't completely dead. For now, the 27-inch iMac is still available in a few different configurations, but it's not clear how long it will last.

Rumor has it that Apple plans to revamp the 27-inch iMac Pro with a mini-LED display and equip it with M1 Pro and M1 Max chips in the first half of 2022.