A 4K 21.5-inch iMac and a new Apple TV Bluetooth remote may be en route, as the second OS X El Capitan beta contains intriguing references.
New code buried into the latest beta of OS X El Capitan suggests that Apple may be gearing up to unleash a couple of new products. One of them appears to be a new take on its 21.5-inch iMac, boasting a 4K resolution and a potentially lower price tag. The new 21.5-inch 4K iMac could make its debut this fall.
Mark Gurman of 9to5Mac was the first to report on the relevant code, with the help of journalist Pierre Dandumont. As Gurman points out, the new El Capitan OS X beta contains exciting references, hinting at new Mac support for a resolution of 4,096 x 2,304 pixels on a new display panel made by Apple. The current 21.5-inch iMac doesn't come with a Retina display, but the code suggests the next iteration will. The 4K reference doesn't appear in any Yosemite version.
Other references, meanwhile, hint at new graphics from Intel in the form of an Iris Pro 6200 graphics chipset, which is a Broadwell-integrated GPU that made its debut earlier in June. The beta also contains references of four new AMD Radeon R9 processors. As 9to5Mac suggests, this could indicate various upgrade options for the 4K iMac or other Mac models.
In addition to this 4K 21.5-inch iMac references, the new beta for OS X El Capitan also hints at a new Bluetooth Remote Control device, which could be designed for a new generation Apple TV. This new Bluetooth Remote Control reportedly includes a dedicated Bluetooth wireless chip and a multi-touch trackpad, and can pair with devices through infrared.
The upcoming Bluetooth remote may also feature support for Apple's Force Touch technology, but 9to5Mac is not sure this is the case. Rumors of a new remote for the updated Apple TV have been making rounds for a while, and recent whispers claimed that Apple didn't make an announcement at its WWDC 2015 because the hardware was not completely ready yet.
Apple plans to release its new OS X El Capital in the fall of 2015, and an upgraded Apple TV might make its debut around the same time. Considering that current betas already feature references to new hardware, a product launch could be just around the corner.
