Update: The Apple Studio Display is here; check out our showdown between the Apple Studio Display vs Pro XDR Display, and which you should buy.
While iPhones, AirPods and MacBooks have reached ubiquity, the company’s monitors — aside from those built into iMacs — remain a niche product for high-end professionals and those with a lot of cash to burn. The Pro Display XDR will set you back at least $4,999, but you can add an extra $1,000 if you want nano-texture glass and another $999 on top of that if you want the Pro Stand.
But in 2022, Apple could take a tentative step to more consumer-friendly pricing, according to the well connected Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman. In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter, Gurman writes that he is “hoping Apple's next external monitor” will arrive “in the coming year” and that, whenever it emerges, it is “destined to be about half the price of the Pro Display XDR.”
This isn’t the first time Gurman has discussed the possibility of Apple producing a lower-cost screen in his newsletter. Back in December he wrote that such a product could be “a hot seller for those looking to add a larger screen to their new MacBook Pro without spending the equivalent of a luxury car down payment on the Pro Display XDR.”
More encouragingly, Gurman stated that a cheaper monitor need not be that much weaker than the superb Pro Display XDR. “At this point, the cost of building that monitor has likely come down, and with a few tweaks and perhaps a slight drop in brightness, Apple might be able to get to a similar quality monitor (at a slightly smaller size) at perhaps about half the price,” he wrote.
On the subject of smaller sizing, last month the leaker dylandkt claimed that Apple was teaming up with LG to produce monitors of three different sizes, with 24, 27 and 32-inch panels mentioned.
The latter of these, the tipster claimed, could have its own onboard chip: “there seems to be a reference to custom silicon powering the 32-inch display,” the leaker wrote. This is something that’s been rumored before, with possible A13 power and a neural engine suggested back in July.
To be clear, a price cut to $2,500 would still be very expensive. If you’re looking for something more competitive to pair with your Mac mini or as an external screen for your MacBook, be sure to check out our list of the best monitors you can buy today.
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