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New Apple Studio Displays Double Internal Storage to 128GB

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The Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR are equipped with A19 and A19 Pro chips, respectively, and each display has 128GB of internal NAND storage.

studio-display-and-xdr.jpg

With A-series chips, the Studio Displays run an iOS-based operating system, which is what the internal storage space is used for. The A19 and A19 Pro handle camera processing for the Center Stage camera, color calibration, USB and Thunderbolt device management, spatial audio, and more.

Storage space is necessary for the existing software, downloading new firmware updates over time, and perhaps for diagnostics, but the storage is not used for user-facing features.

The prior-generation Studio Display had 64GB of storage, so the new displays have double the capacity. Apple likely found it more affordable to use existing NAND storage from its iPhone supply chain rather than to invest in smaller modules with less storage. Most of the 128GB is probably unnecessary.

Along with 128GB of storage, the Studio Display has 8GB RAM and the Studio Display XDR has 12GB RAM. The new displays launched today, and are now available for purchase from the online Apple Store and Apple retail locations.

(Thanks, Mr. Macintosh!)

Article Link: New Apple Studio Displays Double Internal Storage to 128GB
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2026/03/11/studio-display-internal-storage-128gb/
Last edited:
  • Haha
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Reactions: gusmula, Z-4195, jlnr and 2 others
These displays are PERFECTLY capable of either running tvOS or at least streaming your mac's content at 60hz (thus giving you an extra display, regardless of the "limit" you have tied to your m chip)


But I bet Apple won't announce that as a feature in OS27

I yearn for the moment someone quotes this and says "aged like milk"
 
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m1mini said:
These displays are PERFECTLY capable of either running tvOS or at least streaming your mac's content at 60hz (thus giving you an extra display, regardless of the "limit" you have tied to your m chip)


But I bet Apple won't announce that as a feature in OS27

I yearn for the moment someone quotes this and says "aged like milk"
Click to expand...

Yeah .. amazing how Target Display Mode has never returned now that all the tech and connections are there for it again.

Apple realized it's too useful and life extending (see: keeps people from having to buy more stuff, sooner).
 
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NAND is weird, sometimes lower capacities are actually more expensive than higher ones because whatever company made them is making so many more of a certain capacity. When it was released, the 64GB was probably the cheapest one, and today it is 128. Which is also probably why the Neo has 256 because Apple usually puts 2 NAND chips in for their SSDs to make them really fast. If 128 is the cheapest, it all makes sense.
 
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turbineseaplane said:
So with an A19 Pro and 12GB of RAM...

Is the SD:XDR more capable than a MacBook Neo?

Or even the base Studio Display with an A19 and 8GB!
Click to expand...
Reminds me of when the OG laserwriter came out, it had a 68k proc clocked higher than the macs it was being paired with, wasnt until the Macintosh II came out a couple *years* later that there was a faster mac

And, like now, I believe the LW ran a stripped down version of MacOS internally

So really this isnt new for Apple at all
 
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Astuces iOS said:
Faster than the MacBook Air m1, more ram than the MacBook Air m1, same storage as the MacBook Air m1 for edu and you tell me that it cannot run macOS by itself?
Click to expand...
Could it? Probably? It doesn’t have any networking in it, and the case isn't designed for that chip to be under any load, so I don’t know how thermals would work. iMac starts at $1249 and has a way better chip in it. Not sure why anyone would want this to be an iMac for that price anyway.
The Studio Display has been the weirdest product in Apple’s lineup since it came out, and it only gets weirder.
 
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What_Is_George said:
Could it? Probably? It doesn’t have any networking in it, and the case isn't designed for that chip to be under any load, so I don’t know how thermals would work. iMac starts at $1249 and has a way better chip in it. Not sure why anyone would want this to be an iMac for that price anyway.
The Studio Display has been the weirdest product in Apple’s lineup since it came out, and it only gets weirder.
Click to expand...
Ok so we just want it to be able to run like websites or something small (sad that no networking) without always plugging your MacBook... Yes this use case is only for MacBook users who plug it to the Studio Display !
 
What_Is_George said:
Could it? Probably?
Click to expand...
It does, technically. iOS, which is what it’s running, is just Darwin/Mach under the hood, same as MacOS. They’re the same OS with different UIs and a few different APIs exposed.
What_Is_George said:
It doesn’t have any networking in it
Click to expand...
If it’s got a full TB controller, usb stack, etc, as it seems, it absolutely can handle networking. It’s a full A series SoC after all
What_Is_George said:
and the case isn't designed for that chip to be under any load
Click to expand...
That’s definitely accurate
What_Is_George said:
The Studio Display has been the weirdest product in Apple’s lineup since it came out, and it only gets weirder.
Click to expand...
They’re using their economies of scale on the A series chips and other phone components, so it paradoxically costs them less to toss massively overpowered chips and over-specced components in as the controller and just lightly use them than it does to build more dedicated slower silicon just for the displays. They can just used binned chips from A series production etc. Chips that might actually be nearly free since they might have been trashed otherwise. Same reason they can make the neo so cheap

For that matter it’s very similar to why there are full fledged ARM cortex M0s in disposable products like vapes these days: the chips are manufactured on such a huge scale they’re actually cheaper than slower options
 
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Astuces iOS said:
Ok so we just want it to be able to run like websites or something small (sad that no networking) without always plugging your MacBook... Yes this use case is only for MacBook users who plug it to the Studio Display !
Click to expand...
Sounds more like you'd be better off with an iMac that has an input on it like they used to.
 
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As someone else above commented, TvOS would be a fun addition to these with one of those 'Front Row' style remotes that we used to get back in the day. In truth, I just wouldn't use it much if it did that so it's probably not worth the engineering effort for them to add it.

I am genuinely surprised that no-one has ever done a jailbreak on an ASD to see what it could actually do. I'm pretty sure it would be able to run Doom. 🙂
 
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m1mini said:
These displays are PERFECTLY capable of either running tvOS or at least streaming your mac's content at 60hz (thus giving you an extra display, regardless of the "limit" you have tied to your m chip)

But I bet Apple won't announce that as a feature in OS27

I yearn for the moment someone quotes this and says "aged like milk"
Click to expand...

These displays don't have Wifi.

There already exist solutions to having multiple monitors for Apple Silicon Macs with limited external monitor support which is much cheaper than getting an Apple Studio Display.

You're looking for workarounds for limits either technological or imposed by Apple. Apple will not cater to these kind of needs.
 
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