It's been two years since Apple updated its iMac lineup. And while many expected that an announcement would be made at the October event, Apple disappointed when they kept silent on the new iMac. Now, it seems likely that the next iteration will land next year.

Previous rumors have said that the new iMac could make its way to the market this year. However, chances are becoming slimmer with each passing day. It is now believed that Apple is waiting for the new Kaby Lake processor from Intel before proceeding with manufacturing the new iMac 2017.

Intel has already announced a new processor, Kaby Lake, which is far better in overall quality and performance than its current-gen chipset, Skylake. And although it was previously thought that Apple may keep the Skylake aboard the iMac, it is now expected that the Cupertino tech giant is delaying the desktop, in order to accommodate the Kaby Lake. It should be noted that many fans were left disappointed when the new MacBook Pro was introduced without the Kaby Lake. Instead, Apple went with Skylake under the hood.

Competition is also heating up in the tech industry, especially with Microsoft's new Surface Studio. Tech enthusiasts know that Microsoft has gone all out with its features and advancements, so Apple needs to take things up a notch as well.

Based on reports, though, it looks like Apple has taken the hint. It has been said that the new iMac 2017 will sport similar features that the MacBook Pro has. Fans know that the new laptop came with an OLED panel, called the Touch Bar, and it would make sense if the iMac will also don the same feature. There is also talk of 32 GB of RAM with a 2 TB Fusion drive, as well as AMD's Polaris 10 graphics chipset. Speculations are also rife that the new iMac will be able to support virtual reality.

The new iMac is believed to launch in January 2017 at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.