Aside from the long-awaited successor to the iPhone 7, Apple is expected to come out with a slew of other devices such as the iPad Pro 2 and the iPad mini 5 this year. While tech buffs have been restlessly waiting to get their hands on the aforesaid devices; the iMac 2017 has been floating around the rumor mill as well.

The 2017 iteration of the iMac has been subject to a slew of rumors and leaks. The latest buzz around the highly anticipated all-in-one desktop suggests that Apple might oust Intel's i7 chips in favor of AMD's latest RYZEN chips for the iMac 2017.

iMac 2017 Release Date, Specifications & Other Details

Despite the lack of an official announcement, the iMac 2017 is rumored to hit the store shelves either in March or June. It is highly likely that the new iMac's launch date could coincide with the release of AMD's latest chip; if rumors proved to be true.

Aside from setting a new record in a CPU performance benchmark, AMD RYZEN 7 1800x has towered above the Intel i7 in terms of performance per watt. Moreover, AMD's new chips seem to concur with Apple's deviation from maximum performance in order to concentrate more on the economy of energy consumption, according to Architosh.

The report claims AMD's RYZEN 7 are quite similar to Apple since the chips are capable of delivering impressive performance using much smaller wattage. While Intel's i7 has TDP (thermal design points) of 140W, the RYZEN 7 1800x and the 1700x, on the other hand, comes with 95W TDP.

If that weren't enough, AMD's new RYZEN chips are low-priced as well. Bearing a price tag of just $499, the AMD RYZEN 7 1800x delivers better performance at about half the cost of Intel i7, which sells for $1,089. As reported by MacWorld, Apple could employ Intel-based CPUs for the new iMac; however, there's a possibility AMD could be used in certain iMac models.

The low-priced iMac models are likely to pack the AMD RYZEN chips. In addition to using AMD's processors, Apple will most likely resort to AMD's Polaris graphics set for the iMac 2017.

While zealous iMac fanatics believe Apple will announce new models this month, it is highly unlikely as the Cupertino-based tech giant has not made an official announcement until now. Meanwhile, tech pundits are looking forward to this year's WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) hoping that a new iMac could make an appearance at the upcoming event.

Meanwhile, Apple is in no mood to divulge details about the iMac 2017 such as its release date, specs and more. Watch this space for more iMac 2017 news and updates!