July 25, 2021- 11:22 a.m.
The news comes from 9to5Mac, which says “sources familiar with the matter” have revealed the existence of the new device, codenamed J327. So far, it’s not clear what this screen might be called, or what any of the other important specs (such as size) are.
If the A13 Bionic chip looks familiar, it’s because it’s also present in the iPhone 11 series of devices. Add in the Neural Engine for a bit of artificial intelligence magic, and it sounds like this display can do a significant amount of onboard processing.
That processing might involve adjusting colours, contrast, brightness and other qualities in real time – perhaps in response to ambient light or whatever input source is selected – but at this stage we really don’t know what features the device is going to offer.
Apple could be launching a new external display, according to a new rumor, to join the Pro Display XDR it already sells – and the monitor would have its own A13 Bionic chip and its own Neural Engine.
The built-in computing power integrated into the display would also take some of the graphics processing pressure off, regardless of the device plugged into it – we could be looking at a monitor capable of displaying very high-resolution images. It is also possible that it may include integrated features such as AirPlay.
After its Thunderbolt Display retired in 2016, Apple said it was stepping out of the standalone external monitor business — to return in 2019 with the Pro Display XDR. In fact, there have been rumors of an external Apple display with an integrated GPU for several years now.
Based on this new report, it looks like we’re closer than ever to getting real hardware that fits that description. However, the sources who spoke to 9to5Mac did not disclose a timeline for when the screen could be unveiled.
Given the inclusion of the processing and AI chips, this could well be an upcoming replacement or upgrade of the Apple Pro Display XDR – yours for just $4,999 / £4,599 / AU$8,499 and up (without stand) outright from the Apple website — rather than a more affordable, less premium alternative.
