Aww, that’s kinda sad. That was always my favorite aluminum iMac design/size all these years. Never once considered/lusted after the 27”.*
Maybe they’re thinking, smack-dab in the middle of a school year, there won’t be many education buys for a bit? And, come spring, the current iMac (M1, 8/256, two ports, 8/7 core, maybe in silver only) drops down to $1,099 and the M2 24” iMac takes over the $1,299+ slot.
*And speaking of the 27”…
And then there’s this story out today as well.
If these rumors pan out, we’ve all been massively overshooting on the size (30-32”) on an upcoming larger iMac. However it appears it may be positioned as an iMac Pro, and get the Pro/Max AS offerings, even if it remains at 27”.