Apple may have a 4K version of the 21.5-inch iMac in the works

Some data strings in the most recent version of the OS X El Capitan beta may have given us an idea of what kinds of products Apple intends to release in the near future. The most interesting of these new products was what appeared to be an upcoming 4K version of the 21.5-inch iMac. The current version of the 21.5-inch iMac doesn’t have a Retina display and hasn’t received a significant update in quite some time. 

Although it’s light on new consumer-facing features, the latest release of the OS X El Capitan beta for developers hides references to a pair of future Apple hardware products: a new 4K version of the 21.5-inch iMac and a new Bluetooth Remote control. Likely destined for a refreshed version of the 21.5-inch iMac, which currently does not have a Retina display, the new El Capitan beta references Mac support for a new 4096 x 2304 resolution Apple-made display panel. While the larger, more expensive 27-inch iMac is offered with a 5K display, it could make sense for the smaller screen to be upgraded to a 4K resolution. In addition to the 4K panel reference, which is not present in any version of Yosemite, the innards of the software upgrade include references to a new Intel graphics chipset known as the Iris Pro 6200. This new, Broadwell-integrated graphics processor launched earlier this month and would be a natural fit for powering a 4K iMac.