Apple is working on some 'great desktops,' CEO Tim Cook promises

Hoping for a new desktop Mac? You may finally be in luck. Apple has got some "great desktops" planned, CEO Tim Cook told employees in an internal memo leaked to TechCrunch.

With Apple's business ever-more dependant on the iPhone, its commitment to its desktop products - once its bread-and-butter - is questionable.

Upgrade cycles have slowed to a crawl, analysis by MacRumors shows: The iMac hasn't had an upgrade for more than 430 days, a big jump on the 147-day wait for an upgrade before that.

The state of the Mac Pro is even more dire - its latest release was in December 2013, more than 1,000 days ago.

In a question-and-answer posted on an internal message board, Cook acknowledges this- suggesting there may be concerns inside Apple about the company's commitment to desktop computers as well.

"Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we're committed to desktops," the CEO wrote. "If there's any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that."

An Apple spokesperson declined to elaborate on Apple's future plans for the desktop.

In another part of the leaked memo, Tim Cook defended his attendance at a meeting of tech industry leaders hosted by President-elect Donald Trump.

"There's a large number of those issues, and the way that you advance them is to engage. Personally, I've never found being on the sideline a successful place to be. The way that you influence these issues is to be in the arena. So whether it's in this country, or the European Union, or in China or South America, we engage. And we engage when we agree and we engage when we disagree," he wrote.

"I think it's very important to do that because you don't change things by just yelling. You change things by showing everyone why your way is the best."

Here's the full question-and-answer on Apple's desktop plans:

We had a big MacBook Pro launch in October and a powerful upgrade to the MacBook back in the spring. Are Mac desktops strategic for us?

The desktop is very strategic for us. It's unique compared to the notebook because you can pack a lot more performance in a desktop - the largest screens, the most memory and storage, a greater variety of I/O, and fastest performance. So there are many different reasons why desktops are really important, and in some cases critical, to people.

The current generation iMac is the best desktop we have ever made and its beautiful Retina 5K display is the best desktop display in the world.

Some folks in the media have raised the question about whether we're committed to desktops. If there's any doubt about that with our teams, let me be very clear: we have great desktops in our roadmap. Nobody should worry about that.