There’s bad news for anyone hoping to pick up Apple’s rumored 27-inch mini-LED monitor. According to a subscriber's-only tweet from display analyst Ross Young (via MacRumors) Apple has “killed off” the display “for now”, despite the fact panels for the monitor were shipped out last year.
Young previously claimed that the display would be launching last year, and that it may be a “Studio Display Pro”. That means the display would have sat between Apple’s $1,499 Studio Display and the $5,000 Pro Display XDR. According to Young the monitor was slated for a June release, before being delayed to October thanks to Covid-19 lockdowns in China.
That obviously never happened, with Young now claiming the project has been shelved. It’s unclear whether the monitor will ever make it to production, and take its place on the shelves in the Apple Store.
Young previously claimed that the Studio Display Pro would offer an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate, powered by Apple’s ProMotion technology. The mini-LED backlighting would also have offered much more discrete dimming zones, which would have resulted in better brights, deeper darks, fantastic HDR performance and a richer overall picture.
However, mini-LED is an expensive new technology, to the point where fellow analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple wouldn’t be releasing a mini-LED display in 2022. Not that Apple is afraid of selling products with an ultra-premium price tag. Just look at the Pro Display XDR or the Mac Pro, both of which cost over $5,000 each.
Of course, this isn’t the first time Apple has reportedly canned a 27-inch device. There were rumors that a 27-inch iMac would launch at some point in 2022, only for sources to dispel those rumors. The 27-inch Studio Display is still available, and for those who want something more than the 24-inch iMac and less than the 32-inch Pro Display XDR, it’ll have to do.
At least there are other Apple products on the horizon worth getting excited about. The first 15-inch MacBook Air is tipped to launch soon and Apple is expected to unveil is Apple VR/AR headset at WWDC 2023 on June 5. And that's when we'll also learn about the new iOS 17. So there's plenty of Apple stuff on the way.
