Apple surprises fans with a brand new £1,299 product – and you won’t have to wait long before you can get your hands on it

Four iPhones and a new iPad have already been released in the past two months, but now Apple has announced another new product.

With its ‘strikingly thin design’, the tech giant calls its new hardware the ‘best in the world’ in its category – and it’s built for AI.

The company’s new £1,299 iMac desktop computer has a 24-inch screen, a 12-megapixel front camera and four USB-C ports.

It is equipped with the M4 chip that powers AI tasks, meaning it can run Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence is the company’s AI software suite that includes image editing, ‘Genmoji’ and an integration with ChatGPT.

The new iMac comes in ‘playful’ colors: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver.

The striking range looks like it was inspired by one of the most memorable products in the company’s history: the iMac G3.

iMac G3 was the hugely successful series of Apple computers released in 1998, known for its vibrant, translucent color gamut and spherical chassis.

The new iMac is available in seven vibrant colors: green, yellow, orange, pink, purple, blue and silver

Apple unveiled the machine in one blog postcalling it “the world’s best all-in-one desktop” with a “stunning ultra-thin design.”

It’s available to pre-order today from £1,299/$1,299, ahead of its November 8 release date.

“iMac is loved by millions of users, from families at home to entrepreneurs at work,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Engineering.

“With the incredible features of Apple Intelligence and the powerful performance of Apple Silicon, the new iMac changes the world again.

“With M4 and Apple Intelligence, stunning new colors that look great in any room, an advanced 12 MP Center Stage camera and a new nano-texture glass screen option, iMac marks a whole new era.”

‘iMac with M4’ has a nano-texture glass option, which gives the screen surface a matte look and is less vulnerable to reflections and glare.

Apple says: “Nano-textured glass allows users to place the iMac in even more spaces, like a sunlit living room or a bright storefront.”

However, you’ll have to pay more for nano-textured glass – prices for this option start from £1,499/$1,499.

The striking range looks like it was inspired by one of the most memorable products in the company’s history: the iMac G3. Pictured: The back of an original 1990s Apple iMac G3 home computer with a ‘Bondi Blue’ finish

Siri – accessible by clicking the icon in the top corner – lets users type their requests and helps them ‘speed up tasks’

iMac with M4 also has four USB-C ports, all of which support Thunderbolt 4 for super-fast data transfers.

A front-facing 12-megapixel camera, meanwhile, features ‘Center Stage’ technology, which tracks you to keep you in frame, for example during video calls.

But perhaps the biggest selling point is the presence of Apple’s small M4 chip, which was announced in May this year.

M4 accelerates everyday tasks, AI-based or otherwise, such as photo editing, gaming and browsing web pages in Safari.

And like Apple Intelligence on iPhones, users can get instant help from a ChatGPT-powered version of smart assistant Siri.

The company says, “Redesigned Siri allows users to fluidly switch between spoken and typed requests to speed up tasks throughout the day.

“Siri can answer thousands of questions about Mac and other Apple products.”

Apple Intelligence also includes a Cleanup tool for the Photos app, which allows for ultra-clean photo editing, and Genmoji (AI-generated emoji).

On the new iMac, the M4 accelerates everyday tasks, whether AI-based or not, such as photo editing, gaming and browsing web pages in Safari. In the photo you see an iMac with M4 playing Civilization VII, the upcoming video game

Apple Intelligence is available on the iPhone 15 iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as all four iPhone 16 models, plus full-size iPads and Macs.

It’s rolling out to devices for people in the US starting this week; however, those in Britain and other countries will have to wait until December.

Earlier this month, Apple released the 7th generation iPad Mini – the first update to the product line in over three years, which also features Apple Intelligence support.

The £499 ‘ultraportable’ device has an 8.3-inch screen and ‘all day’ battery life and works with the £129 Apple Pencil Pro.

It was on September 9 that Apple unveiled its highly anticipated, AI-boosted iPhone 16 lineup, with a release date less than two weeks later.

iPhone 16 – which starts at £799/$799 and goes up to a whopping £1,199/$1,199 – has camera upgrades and longer battery life.

It has a brand new selfie button – a feature that fans are describing as ‘incredible’ and the ‘coolest feature ever’ as it speeds up quick, fleeting moments.