Apple may have just announced the super powerful new iMac, but the company could be planning to revisit another, similarly named desktop – at least from a design perspective. If recent reports are to be believed, Apple's next desktop display could look less iMac M4, and more iMac G4.
We've heard tell for a while that Apple is working on its first smart display technology for the home, with previous rumours suggesting it could resemble some kind of 'robot iPad'. But now, leakers are claiming the display could instead take design cues from one of the most iconic products from the company's history.
According to everyone's favourite Apple leaker, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple’s upcoming home smart display "will include old school iMac-like base. Apple is making progress developing its next entirely new product — a smart home screen — and it may be a little smaller than expected. The device will have a square display, I’m told, and be about the size of two iPhones side by side. The screen is positioned at an angle on a small base, making it reminiscent of the circular bottom of the iMac G4 from a couple of decades ago."
The iMac G4 made quite the splash when it launched. There'll always be something delightful about some of those early iMac designs – back in 2002, there weren't many all-in-one desktops out there, and yet there was Apple creating computers that looked like beautiful lamps. Things are a lot more utilitarian these days (although the new iMac does hark back to Apple's colourful past), with flat edges and minimal profiles replacing the curved lines of yore.
Time will tell whether Apple's nostalgic design will make a comeback, but the idea might not be as wild as it seems – after all, Y2K tech is very much in vogue right now. And besides, the iMac G4 remains one of the most beautiful Apple products ever made.
