Apple's Rumored 27-Inch Display With ProMotion No Longer Planned 'For Now'

[CWallace]

If Apple would just remove the ridiculous iPhone they grafted into the Studio Display it wouldn't cost so damn much.

I expect the actual Bill of Materials of the A-series SoC and RAM is measured in the tens of dollars. So maybe Apple would knock $100 off.

Does TB4 have the bandwidth for 5k or 6k ProMotion?

There is conflicting information on this, but it sounds like 5K, at least, can be done at 120Hz with 8-bit color depth using Display Stream Compression (DSC).

 

[citysnaps]

Life goes on. Whine if they do, whine if they don't.

 

[rpmurray]

I expect the actual Bill of Materials of the A-series SoC and RAM is measured in the tens of dollars. So maybe Apple would knock $100 off.

Maybe so, but you're not including the Apple tax, which adds at least another $250.

 

[socialwill]

I am guessing that ProMotion would be on the next Pro display, the XDR v2

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

How hard is it for Apple to make a monitor that's good? Just take the M1 iMac, take the computer out, and sell that for $500. That's it. That's all you gotta do. No Siri crap, no A13, no nonremovable power cord, just a nice looking 4.5K display that matches their design language of the rest of their office.

Sigh...honestly at this point just get an ASUS or Acer monitor.

 

[HI50Steve]

My guess is that with the advances in OLED, Apple is abandoning its development of miniLED.

 

[randolorian]

Maybe the panels were for a 27" iMac that is being cancelled or postponed to avoid competing with the Mac Studio Display combo or upcoming Mac Pro.

 

[Realityck]

Apple has abandoned its plans to release a 27-inch external monitor with mini-LED backlighting, according to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants. Young initially expected the monitor to launch in 2022, but a launch has yet to materialize.

There were a couple of 4K Mini-LED displays that were $1700 (4K 32"). If Apple charges too much they will be laughed at. The Mini-LED I think was just a good immediate step (featured on the 14"/16" MBPs) before they will just go the OLED route for larger 5K displays. With mainstream 4K TVs mini-LED is really a poor mans OLED alternative, ultimately that isn't what Apple should do.

 

[Juanchi007]

Boooooooo!!! (But in a selfish way I’m glad my Studio Display won’t be upstaged anytime soon)

 

[Spaceboi Scaphandre]

I am guessing that ProMotion would be on the next Pro display, the XDR v2

You do realize ProMotion is just Apple's way of saying adaptive refresh rate right? A lot of monitors have that already.

 

[sdf]

This a promotion for us because consumers don’t have to pay extra money just for a monitor solely.

Don't buy it? You don't have to spend money on this.

 

[AndiG]

Apple's products fail one after the other. When a product is ready for the market, it is over-engineered and complicated. The Studio Display needs a full-fledged operating system and annoys users with a constant need for updates. Much more like it is a failed iMac/iPad experiment.

It's time for Tim Cook to leave the company. He is not the right man to lead the company and never was. Instead of building a cloud infrastructure that every other major tech company has and focusing on modern technologies like AI, which is already "the next big thing," Apple is focused on making iPhone frames one micron thinner and launching AR/VR glasses with no use case.

 

[sdf]

Apple has abandoned its plans to release a 27-inch external monitor with mini-LED backlighting, according to Ross Young, CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants. Young initially expected the monitor to launch in 2022, but a launch has yet to materialize.

Translation: "This product never seriously existed, but here's a way I can save face."

 

[Jumpthesnark]

They already did.

Exactly ^ . But for some, you should never let the truth get in the way of a good narrative!

 

[Scipster]

I expect the actual Bill of Materials of the A-series SoC and RAM is measured in the tens of dollars. So maybe Apple would knock $100 off.



There is conflicting information on this, but it sounds like 5K, at least, can be done at 120Hz with 8-bit color depth using Display Stream Compression (DSC).

I imagine Apple was aiming for 10-bit HDR like its other devices. It's a shame the technology doesn't exist yet. Lenovo is shipping something similar in Q3 of this year, albeit 4K and 60hz refresh.

 

[bradman83]

Driving a 5K monitor at 120Hz is possible but it requires significantly more connection bandwidth than 4K at 120Hz. You either need the latest connection standards (DisplayPort 2.0 or HDMI 2.1) or some significant internal trickery using HBR and DSC. Realistically this would limit the number of machines that might support a ProMotion Studio Display at its full potential. It's entirely probable Apple prototyped some units but decided it wasn't worth the effort to release given the small potential user market and presumably high cost of a custom manufactured 120Hz 5K panel.

 

[CWallace]

Maybe so, but you're not including the Apple tax, which adds at least another $250.

Apple's hardware margins are around 35% so if the BoM is even $50 (which is generous), that would add another $18. As such, I went with a $100 discount. Anything higher would be unlikely.

Also, the "tax" includes things beyond just the cost of the raw materials. Items like packaging, shipping and customs fees, taxes and such. This is why an iPhone 14 Pro that has ~$500 in component costs runs $1100 and yet Apple is not making 220% margins on the device.

How hard is it for Apple to make a monitor that's good? Just take the M1 iMac, take the computer out, and sell that for $500. That's it. That's all you gotta do. No Siri crap, no A13, no nonremovable power cord, just a nice looking 4.5K display that matches their design language of the rest of their office.

Supposedly Apple and LG were working on this alongside the fancier 7K and 5K models, but my guess is Apple feels a 24" display would be too close to a 27" display to make it worth offering both - and why I believe we will not see a 27" iMac (Pro) and the iMac will only be offered in a 24" size going forward.

 

[NovaNation07]

If Apple would just remove the ridiculous iPhone they grafted into the Studio Display it wouldn't cost so damn much.

LOL it’s so true. FWIW I love my ASD but the chip was just so unnecessary.

 

[Sooby]

It's not good that there's a promotion option across the whole range of products (iphone, ipad, Macbook) but not in the desktop segment.

 

[Tyler O'Bannon]

I’m excited about this product, but it sounds like it’s going to have to be a 2nd Gen studio display at some point. Look at the price of the current. It’s the price of a MBP. Is this going to be $3,500 sitting under XDR?

Also, it’s going to require Thunderbolt 5 to have the bandwidth for 5K 120Hz.

Sounds like we just may eventually have a miniLED 2nd Gen Studio Display.

 

[CWallace]

I imagine Apple was aiming for 10-bit HDR like its other devices.

Agreed. The 7K and 5K ProMotion displays were said to have MiniLED backlighting so that would imply they would support full HDR at 10-bit.

Driving a 5K monitor at 120Hz is possible but it requires significantly more connection bandwidth than 4K at 120Hz. You either need the latest connection standards (DisplayPort 2.0 or HDMI 2.1) or some significant internal trickery using HBR and DSC. Realistically this would limit the number of machines that might support a ProMotion Studio Display at its full potential. It's entirely probable Apple prototyped some units but decided it wasn't worth the effort to release given the small potential user market and presumably high cost of a custom manufactured 120Hz 5K panel.

Also agreed.

The M2 MacBook Pro and Mac mini (Pro) support HDMI 2.1 and the Mac Pro and Mac Studio refresh would also support it so by 2024-2025 there should be a strong foundation of Macs that can drive an HDR 7K/5K Apple display that had HDMI 2.1 in (which would also make it far more flexible as a PC display and media playback device).

TB4 lacks the bandwidth, but USB4 in Alt Mode supposedly does have the bandwidth, but not sure it can do it while also providing PowerDelivery and/or data. So Apple might have to wait for TB5 (which will offer 80Gb/s) for a "one cable" solution.

And with Apple said to be moving wholescale to OLED, it is possible that the current 7K and 5K MiniLED display prototypes are now considered "dead ends" and Apple is now working on OLED versions, instead, to correspond to a 2024/2025 release.

 

[toomuchrock]

Okay so i give up. Stop me before I click buy on the 27" Studio Display and an M2 Mac Mini 16G/1TB and the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for $3,389.35. I'll replace my Retina 5K, 27" Late 2015, 4GHz Quad-Core i7/16G/1TB. I do photography, video, and audio work.

Concern 1: I read folks saying the BenQ PD3220U is a bit cheaper but no built-in webcam is annoying. Less bright, less pixel density too. And dark room so matte vs. glossy doesn't matter to me. Think I'm sticking with the Apple.

Concern 2: 1TB is because I've got 700G in a music library. Should I be dropping to 256GB and spending the $400 on an external drive for that? Maybe buying one of those docks that I can drop an SSD into. Do I need to buy one that supports NVMe like the Minisopuru Mac mini hub or am I fine with the cuter The Satechi Stand & Hub ones with more limited SSD support? This one has me torn as I actually have a need for SD reading anyway. Any advice here?

UPDATE: Okay so I looked at my iMac. Oops 3TB Fusion drive with over 1TB in the OS and docs then another 1.5TB in media so 2.5TB in use. So looks like I'm definitely going to need to find an external storage solution. I've already got a 24TB (12 usuable) NAS I've offloaded a few things already to it already (when the Fusion got too tight) and it also serves as my TimeMachine backup for the iMac and a MBP. Only 2TB free now. I guess this is what happens when you've been saving your digital stuff since the 90s.

 

[UMHurricanes34]

Still standing by my gut that says this panel was always destined for a new iMac Pro that Apple has decided to cancel development of.

 

[macduke]

Man, what am I supposed to use with my 2024 M3 Max MacBook Pro, then? I don't want some displays to have ProMotion and some displays not to.

I hope this just means that instead of being positioned between the two, they'll update the Studio Display to use this technology early next year when the new MacBook Pros come out. Otherwise I'm just going to wait to upgrade anything. My next upgrade needs to be able to set me up for the long-term. I'm not upgrading to something outdated and half-assed like the current Studio Display which is basically the same as an old iMac screen. I'm already using one of those!

 

[CWallace]

Okay so i give up. Stop me before I click buy on the 27" Studio Display and an M2 iMac 16G/1TB and the Magic Keyboard with Touch ID and Numeric Keypad for $3,389.35. I'll replace my Retina 5K, 27" Late 2015, 4GHz Quad-Core i7/16G/1TB. I do photography, video, and audio work.

I have to replace my 2020 iMac 5K by this Fall, though for me it will be the Samsung 5K display on the way (as I need dual inputs for my PC) and an M2 Pro Mac mini.

Concern 2: 1TB is because I've got 700G in a music library. Should I be dropping to 256GB and spending the $400 on an external drive for that? Maybe buying one of those docks that I can drop an SSD into. Do I need to buy one that supports NVMe like the Minisopuru Mac mini hub or am I fine with the cuter The Satechi Stand & Hub ones with more limited SSD support? This one has me torn as I actually have a need for SD reading anyway. Any advice here?

I would not get less than 512GB and I intend to get a 1TB on my Mac Mini (Pro) because I have always had 1TB in my iMac 5Ks as I find it more convenient to have it all on-board. That said, I do have 8TB worth of connected storage for my media...