Apple Said to Be Working on Lower-Priced External Monitor to Succeed Thunderbolt Display

[eRondeau]

The way my M1 Mac Mini system is set-up, the only "logo" I see all day long is on my SAMSUNG monitor. And it's a big, bold, hideous logo. The last time my cleaning lady was here she said she was glad I finally switched to a SAMSUNG PC because she loves her SAMSUNG phone. I was going to fire her of course but first I explained that only the monitor was SAMSUNG, everything else was still Apple -- you just can't tell because the computer is very small and hidden away, and the Magic Keyboard and Magic Trackpad don't have any Apple logos on them. In the end I didn't fire her but I did cover the SAMSUNG logo with electrical tape and now all is right in the world again.

 

[ajfahey]

Why not just make 3 Mac monitors, 2 lower end TB-3 monitors based on the current iMac monitors and the Current XDR monitor? If I buy an iMac I’d prefer an add-on monitor that looks like it but without the internal processor. All 3 of the monitors could be also be used with Mac Minis and the MacBook product lines and could feature USB-C expansion or TB chaining.

 

[anthony13]

I was hoping whatever new monitors are designed that they would look like the new iMac, until I actually saw the mew iMac. Hoping whatever they design doesn’t have white bezels.

 

[CWallace]

Why not just make 3 Mac monitors, 2 lower end TB-3 monitors based on the current iMac monitors and the Current XDR monitor? If I buy an iMac I’d prefer an add-on monitor that looks like it but without the internal processor. All 3 of the monitors could be also be used with Mac Minis and the MacBook product lines and could feature USB-C expansion or TB chaining.

I expect Apple-branded monitors sell relatively poorly because of their high cost. For people who appreciate the extra effort Apple puts into their branded displays, that extra cost is worth it, but for a lot of folks, it is not. Far more people used third-party displays with their Macs instead of Cinema Displays or Thunderbolt Displays.

So Apple is not going to offer a full line of displays because the RoI is too poor. Frankly I am surprised they are going to offer a new display at all - we have been clamoring for a replacement for the Thunderbolt Display for five years now.

 

[anthony13]

Agreed. I have to assume they are only offering it so they have a nice Apple option to pair with the Mac mini and iMac for externals. Maybe it's the amount of people working from home realizing they need a second display. My problem is that I'm super OCD about brand's, and the idea of putting a different logo display next to my iMac makes me just a little bit nuts.

 

[trainwrecka]

this new monitor should take the same language of the upcoming imac redesign to work very well side by side like in the past

Even if they match the design style, the color will throw it off now. 🤪

 

[LFO8]

Any day now... 😂

 

[richinaus]

Any day now... 😂

Waiting for these is like watching paint dry……

 

[Pemberton_Malcolm]

Took too long, finally bought 32” Samsung displays (4K).

But placing them beside my 5K 27” iMac, only emphasizes how much sharper and brighter is the iMac display compared to a Samsung display. What is taking Apple so long to make the decision to sell displays again??

Thunderbolt 4 displays with 5K resolution would be an amazing product. Especially if paired with the new 32” iMac with Thunderbolt 4 ports.

 

[dandeco]

This would be pretty nice, but I've ultimately decided that for desktops I like to have a matte/anti-glare display, and I've still got my eyes set on a Dell 24" P2419H to use with my 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini and with my M1 MacBook Air to use in docked mode or extend the display (like for watching Netflix, HBO Max and Disney+ on and such.) It may not have built-in speakers of a camera and mic, but hey, it's got some USB 3.0 ports and HDMI and DisplayPort input, so I can use it with two computers (my failing Dell is currently hooked up to my Mac Mini via HDMI and my Dell Optiplex 9010 mini-tower via DVI.

 

[tofagerl]

Any day now... 😂

This is the year of this display on my desktop!

 

[ahoover]

This is never coming... or at least not till after the M series iMac "Pro/27" " replacement. Apple could make a lower price point XDR but not likely.

 

[Fangio]

Once again, Vaporware.. *Sigh*

 

[gugy]

This is never coming... or at least not till after the M series iMac "Pro/27" " replacement. Apple could make a lower price point XDR but not likely.

Not so sure. Apple knows very well the majority of "pros" can't afford to shell $7k for an XDR (stand/nano). I am a 25 years veteran designer and can't justify that price tag but would buy two 5k displays with nano and stand @ $2k price point.
I'm hopeful Apple will bring a display "for the rest of us" at some point in the next year.

 

[loby]

Not so sure. Apple knows very well the majority of "pros" can't afford to shell $7k for an XDR (stand/nano). I am a 25 years veteran designer and can't justify that price tag but would buy two 5k displays with nano and stand @ $2k price point.
I'm hopeful Apple will bring a display "for the rest of us" at some point in the next year.

 

[loby]

Don’t hold your breath too long for it…

Apple’s philosophy (and said) when and if the industry does it better or get mature, we don’t need to do it any longer. The one’s who care to have seen an Apple logo on everything as well as “everything has to be Apple” seen on the desk is either gone (Jobs) or has moved on (Ive). Tim Cook comes from Compaq back in the day and comes from supply/ manufacturing (a Master at it) and is why people say he is a “bean counter”. Apple back in the day did not want anything non-Apple in the ecosystem, but it is a new day (along with new management). Profit and bottom line is the call now at Apple, not everything matching is ok. Look at the recent picture of Tim Cook and his suit and tie.. LOL LG supplies Apple’s lower end “for everyone else” now, so we may be out of luck.

LG puts out good screens, but non-apple quality or looking, but does the job as far as Apple is now concerned. It is plainly obvious that since Jobs and Ive are gone, the rest of the crew does not use a Mac Pro or a mac mini anymore. They use ipads or if ANY do anything remotely “production” besides spreadsheets now, they will use a Macbook Pro. So chances are slim for a monitor UNLESS Tim Apple sees it a profitable for the numbers and the shareholders meetings. This is understandable.

Mac Pro and any non-iMac was really a project to supply Jobs side project interests….Pixar. To make movies like Toy story etc. we benefited from it, but there is no one left at Apple who does any higher prodution work or “side projects” that demands an Apple logo or everything, including everything “having to match” fetish behavior.

all of that said…chances as slim…i want an Apple Monitor also….

 

[richinaus]

Don’t hold your breath too long for it…

Apple’s philosophy (and said) when and if the industry does it better or get mature, we don’t need to do it any longer. The one’s who care to have seen an Apple logo on everything as well as “everything has to be Apple” seen on the desk is either gone (Jobs) or has moved on (Ive). Tim Cook comes from Compaq back in the day and comes from supply/ manufacturing (a Master at it) and is why people say he is a “bean counter”. Apple back in the day did not want anything non-Apple in the ecosystem, but it is a new day (along with new management). Profit and bottom line is the call now at Apple, not everything matching is ok. Look at the recent picture of Tim Cook and his suit and tie.. LOL LG supplies Apple’s lower end “for everyone else” now, so we may be out of luck.

LG puts out good screens, but non-apple quality or looking, but does the job as far as Apple is now concerned. It is plainly obvious that since Jobs and Ive are gone, the rest of the crew does not use a Mac Pro or a mac mini anymore. They use ipads or if ANY do anything remotely “production” besides spreadsheets now, they will use a Macbook Pro. So chances are slim for a monitor UNLESS Tim Apple sees it a profitable for the numbers and the shareholders meetings. This is understandable.

Mac Pro and any non-iMac was really a project to supply Jobs side project interests….Pixar. To make movies like Toy story etc. we benefited from it, but there is no one left at Apple who does any higher prodution work or “side projects” that demands an Apple logo or everything, including everything “having to match” fetish behavior.

all of that said…chances as slim…i want an Apple Monitor also….

Well said and I stopped holding my breath about a year after they cancelled the ACD. I now have 2 LG 24” apple monitors about to go on sale due to them being outdated.
Bought the HP Z27 G3 and my eyes are very happy I did.

 

[gugy]

Don’t hold your breath too long for it…

Apple’s philosophy (and said) when and if the industry does it better or get mature, we don’t need to do it any longer. The one’s who care to have seen an Apple logo on everything as well as “everything has to be Apple” seen on the desk is either gone (Jobs) or has moved on (Ive). Tim Cook comes from Compaq back in the day and comes from supply/ manufacturing (a Master at it) and is why people say he is a “bean counter”. Apple back in the day did not want anything non-Apple in the ecosystem, but it is a new day (along with new management). Profit and bottom line is the call now at Apple, not everything matching is ok. Look at the recent picture of Tim Cook and his suit and tie.. LOL LG supplies Apple’s lower end “for everyone else” now, so we may be out of luck.

LG puts out good screens, but non-apple quality or looking, but does the job as far as Apple is now concerned. It is plainly obvious that since Jobs and Ive are gone, the rest of the crew does not use a Mac Pro or a mac mini anymore. They use ipads or if ANY do anything remotely “production” besides spreadsheets now, they will use a Macbook Pro. So chances are slim for a monitor UNLESS Tim Apple sees it a profitable for the numbers and the shareholders meetings. This is understandable.

Mac Pro and any non-iMac was really a project to supply Jobs side project interests….Pixar. To make movies like Toy story etc. we benefited from it, but there is no one left at Apple who does any higher prodution work or “side projects” that demands an Apple logo or everything, including everything “having to match” fetish behavior.

all of that said…chances as slim…i want an Apple Monitor also….

Well, not really holding my breath. I still rock two 30" ACDs. So I am good for a while. I am just hopeful that Apple will recognize the market for a lower-end display and bring it to life. We'll see. Worst case, down the road I'll buy another non-Apple monitor.

 

[loby]

Well, not really holding my breath. I still rock two 30" ACDs. So I am good for a while. I am just hopeful that Apple will recognize the market for a lower-end display and bring it to life. We'll see. Worst case, down the road I'll buy another non-Apple monitor.

this is actually in response to the last two comments

Agree.. i bought a LG 27” non-Apple 4K monitor after first trying out the LG Monitors that Apple had to offer. I set aside the funds knowing that the monitors are over priced regardless, but gave them a try.

But…I Did not like them. Definitely over-priced for what it provided..i also did not like the look as much (came directly from a Apple thunderbolt monitor at the time). Looked “ok” next to mac pro 2013, but not into them at all. I Would still be using the Apple Thunderbolt monitor, but the glare in my tired eyes after some years was now getting to me from the shiny glass refection. Plus, i got tired of seeing myself in the monitor while working. went with a LG matted Non- Apple monitor for half the price and is actually (in my opinion) better than Apple’s certified Apple approved and supposably Apple helped designed offerings.

We all know Ive did not contribute to the design because we find out later he is out of the office most of the time and also was designing Christmas trees for a British hotel or something (LOL) and does not attend any of the meetings as to his eventual and not surprising departure. You look at the LG Apple monitors and you can plainly see (if you are a designer or follow the field) that he did not design it (not his taste). Sure he may have said something..but someone else designed it.

now-a-days consumers are different and its ok. Apple knows this and most now don’t care about semi-try or all one look or color except the older users on this website that want all Apple or the look. Look at the rainbow imacs now. No Apple logo, ok design, a little retro (maybe) as marketed, but people don’t care as much if the monitor is Apple or not etc. I actually like the design, but prefer the classic look (my taste).

LG is Apple’s option that fills in the small segment even though MANY bought the M1 mac mini. Apple markets the mac mini hooked up to the $6,000 Apple Monitor… are you kiddin’ me? If you buy the $699 mac mini, are you going to shell out the funds for the $6,000 monitor (or $5,000 plus the $1,000 for the monitor stand..?!? Please….

There is no one left at Apple who would think about spending the time, R&D efforts, supply chain arrangements etc. just for “some” customers to have another high price Apple monitor option available for the “few” now who care whether they have an official Apple monitor or not. The LG monitors that Apple provides hits their profit margins. Tim’s spread sheets say monitors don’t sell enough. Until the demand is seen…no monitor.

All Apple has to do is to take the guts out of the resent designed rainbow imacs (with slight modification) and call it a monitor to go along with those who want an extra monitor. But they would have to provide all of the colors, so that is why I don’t see a monitor coming. It won’t go with the new offerings that Apple is about to present…what color will the standard monitor be? Just silver? Does that match overall…if Tim makes that decision, it “does” as far as his taste goes….(that is based on his tie and suit selection for the latest angry bird photo)

But all options are on the table now. It is a new time for Apple. We may see another stand-alone mid tier priced monitor. I hope so…but highly doubt since LG provides the profits with little effort that Apple is looking for in a lower price segment.

 

[Karllake]

this is actually in response to the last two comments

Agree.. i bought a LG 27” non-Apple 4K monitor after first trying out the LG Monitors that Apple had to offer. I set aside the funds knowing that the monitors are over priced regardless, but gave them a try.

But…I Did not like them. Definitely over-priced for what it provided..i also did not like the look as much (came directly from a Apple thunderbolt monitor at the time). Looked “ok” next to mac pro 2013, but not into them at all. I Would still be using the Apple Thunderbolt monitor, but the glare in my tired eyes after some years was now getting to me from the shiny glass refection. Plus, i got tired of seeing myself in the monitor while working. went with a LG matted Non- Apple monitor for half the price and is actually (in my opinion) better than Apple’s certified Apple approved and supposably Apple helped designed offerings.

We all know Ive did not contribute to the design because we find out later he is out of the office most of the time and also was designing Christmas trees for a British hotel or something (LOL) and does not attend any of the meetings as to his eventual and not surprising departure. You look at the LG Apple monitors and you can plainly see (if you are a designer or follow the field) that he did not design it (not his taste). Sure he may have said something..but someone else designed it.

now-a-days consumers are different and its ok. Apple knows this and most now don’t care about semi-try or all one look or color except the older users on this website that want all Apple or the look. Look at the rainbow imacs now. No Apple logo, ok design, a little retro (maybe) as marketed, but people don’t care as much if the monitor is Apple or not etc. I actually like the design, but prefer the classic look (my taste).

LG is Apple’s option that fills in the small segment even though MANY bought the M1 mac mini. Apple markets the mac mini hooked up to the $6,000 Apple Monitor… are you kiddin’ me? If you buy the $699 mac mini, are you going to shell out the funds for the $6,000 monitor (or $5,000 plus the $1,000 for the monitor stand..?!? Please….

There is no one left at Apple who would think about spending the time, R&D efforts, supply chain arrangements etc. just for “some” customers to have another high price Apple monitor option available for the “few” now who care whether they have an official Apple monitor or not. The LG monitors that Apple provides hits their profit margins. Tim’s spread sheets say monitors don’t sell enough. Until the demand is seen…no monitor.

All Apple has to do is to take the guts out of the resent designed rainbow imacs (with slight modification) and call it a monitor to go along with those who want an extra monitor. But they would have to provide all of the colors, so that is why I don’t see a monitor coming. It won’t go with the new offerings that Apple is about to present…what color will the standard monitor be? Just silver? Does that match overall…if Tim makes that decision, it “does” as far as his taste goes….(that is based on his tie and suit selection for the latest angry bird photo)

But all options are on the table now. It is a new time for Apple. We may see another stand-alone mid tier priced monitor. I hope so…but highly doubt since LG provides the profits with little effort that Apple is looking for in a lower price segment.

Partially agree but would the R&D be significant given apples size and it could / should look just like the iMac Pro, all I want is the new iMac Pro (m1X) without the computer inside, this could be used to dual screen with an iMac Pro, or any other MacOS / iPadOS device.

For the above reason I hope apple ditches the chin for the iMac Pro.

 

[tofagerl]

When they release the new iMac (Plus? Pro?) with a larger display, they will probably wait at least another year until they release the display as standalone to boost sales.
Which is fine for me. I would love to have a 30" iMac with another 30" as secondary screen, and then hook up the work laptop to the secondary screen when I work from home.

Come on, Apple! Allow me to spend money on this!

 

[WP31]

There is no one left at Apple who would think about spending the time, R&D efforts, supply chain arrangements etc. just for “some” customers to have another high price Apple monitor option available for the “few” now who care whether they have an official Apple monitor or not. The LG monitors that Apple provides hits their profit margins. Tim’s spread sheets say monitors don’t sell enough. Until the demand is seen…no monitor.

This is it. We can quibble about a few of the items (R&D costs, amount of potential customers, etc.) but at the end of the day Apple under Tim Cook left the monitor business and he explicitly said it's a low margin, race to the bottom commodity market and Apple isn't interested in it.

I do think Apple looked around and realized that no one was disrupting the high-end monitor market ($10K-$30K/monitor) so they came in with the XDR. But I don't see anything that has changed enough in the low-end monitor market ($1k-$2k and less) to convince them to get back in the game.

LG agreed to be Apple's stand-in with the 4k/5k UltraFine monitors and as far as I'm concerned those models may the canaries in the coal mine. If LG stops producing, distributing, selling, marketing, etc. those models, we'll know Apple ended whatever back-end agreements they have in place. Which could mean new monitors from somewhere else, possibly Apple.

Of course we're all reading tea leaves hoping that Apple is planning to release a new sub-XDR monitor but that would take market share away from the LGUF monitors. Unless Apple wants to sour their relationship with LG (who, by the way, makes Apple's iMac screens), I don't think Apple will do that without ending whatever LGUF arrangement is in place first (or simultaneously).

Separately, even if that happens, I'd bet Apple's new monitor would be in the above-$2k-but-below-XDR-price range. Probably somewhere around $3000-$3500. Otherwise they are just getting back into the muck of the commoditized monitor market.

 

[gugy]

Of course we're all reading tea leaves hoping that Apple is planning to release a new sub-XDR monitor but that would take market share away from the LGUF monitors. Unless Apple wants to sour their relationship with LG (who, by the way, makes Apple's iMac screens), I don't think Apple will do that without ending whatever LGUF arrangement is in place first (or simultaneously).

You make good points but even if Apple releases a brand name monitor, they will probably still use LG screens but just encasing it on an Apple shell. They don't need to sour their partnership.
While I hope for better specs than the current iMac display, if they just give me that with a nano option. I am a happy camper.

 

[Phil77354]

You guys are right although I feel they will offer a monitor again if they can offer something that is not currently available elsewhere. And I don't think there is really a 5K monitor that is equivalent to the iMac display, even now - how many years since the first 5K display (my late 2014 iMac may have been the first)??

For the same reason I think they dropped out of the Wi-Fi router market, their AirPort models were great but lots of others subsequently came out and no reason for Apple to keep developing their own.

 

[loby]

This is it. We can quibble about a few of the items (R&D costs, amount of potential customers, etc.) but at the end of the day Apple under Tim Cook left the monitor business and he explicitly said it's a low margin, race to the bottom commodity market and Apple isn't interested in it.

I do think Apple looked around and realized that no one was disrupting the high-end monitor market ($10K-$30K/monitor) so they came in with the XDR. But I don't see anything that has changed enough in the low-end monitor market ($1k-$2k and less) to convince them to get back in the game.

LG agreed to be Apple's stand-in with the 4k/5k UltraFine monitors and as far as I'm concerned those models may the canaries in the coal mine. If LG stops producing, distributing, selling, marketing, etc. those models, we'll know Apple ended whatever back-end agreements they have in place. Which could mean new monitors from somewhere else, possibly Apple.

Of course we're all reading tea leaves hoping that Apple is planning to release a new sub-XDR monitor but that would take market share away from the LGUF monitors. Unless Apple wants to sour their relationship with LG (who, by the way, makes Apple's iMac screens), I don't think Apple will do that without ending whatever LGUF arrangement is in place first (or simultaneously).

Separately, even if that happens, I'd bet Apple's new monitor would be in the above-$2k-but-below-XDR-price range. Probably somewhere around $3000-$3500. Otherwise they are just getting back into the muck of the commoditized monitor market.

Totally agree. I am not one to keep saying, “When Jobs was there..” But in the case of Apple Monitors and other products that are now gone, there is surely a difference in philosophy about developing products at Apple (and probably needed to be as Jobs knew and picked Cook) to be the most successful company as far as $ ever to date.

Jobs on one side would be motivated to have an Apple Monitor for the Mac Mini “just because” he did not like to see another branded Monitor hooked up to his product. He would spend the money and resources just for that reason (only) and not get the margins he might want, but do it for his ideology. That is clear when Jobs cancelled (delayed) a launch of a major Product once just because he did not like something and they redesign or fixed it “just because” it did not meet his expectations. Lost A TON of money in the short run…but…gained in the Long run. Apple runs in short run thinking now (new era) to meet share holders expectations as any company that is enslaved by the market in “the big game” has to be. Tim Cook is clearly about the bottom line (and should be now) and as a big time CEO that is his job (and he does it well), regardless if I like his philosophy or whatever his choices in picking ties may be. . Who cares, he is CEO of a high price toy company now and has more concerns and stress than just giving us a monitor with an Apple logo on it. You noticed they took off the logo on the front on the new imacs….shows a lot….

Yes, when Apple was small you can make those decisions like Jobs did, but now the driver of the company is totally reliant on shares and share holders. Not a problem of course to those who cash in…but it is the norm for a company that plays ball in the big game now like Apple does under Cook.

So..all that said, I would be very surprised if Apple comes out with a “mid-tier” and I say “mid tier” Apple monitor for the minority, because LG handles their low Tier monitor which is highly profitable for Apple. I am sure (and could bet high on this) if we could know the sales numbers (probably low in comparison) that the LG monitor gives to Apple, it does not meet Tim’s sales expectations, but…that is justified as he is providing something for the (remember) “entry” level mac mini. If Apple execs do not use a secondary monitor (now probably just using Laptops or ipads), then there is no need to make a secondary monitor. They will use their expensive Apple monitor. If Apple still makes products “just for themselves”, then there is no need. But theses ideas are long gone at Apple. $ is the dominate factor now.

Also, if you noticed, the screens on the ipads and laptops are getting bigger and bigger as time goes bye…why? Laughingly….it is because the old Apple executives who are still around are getting older, so they need bigger screens to count “beans”. LOL. A big slap to all of the baby boomers “be young forever” ideals.

I would like a lower tier Apple monitor “just because”..but highly unlikely as times and ideals change.