Linked List: March 10, 2022

Thursday, 10 March 2022

Display Analyst Ross Young: 27-Inch ‘Studio Display Pro’ With Mini-LED and ProMotion Could Launch in June ★

Sami Fathi, writing for MacRumors:

Apple plans to launch a “Pro” version of its new Studio Display in June of this year that measures 27-inches and has mini-LED and ProMotion, according to well-respected display analyst Ross Young.

In a tweet, Young says he’s still expecting Apple to release a 27-inch mini-LED display in June and has confirmed such plans with sources within Apple’s supply chain. Young had previously said that an iMac Pro would launch as early as summer 2022 but no longer believes that to be the case.

This isn’t a crazy idea — it’s rather conspicuous that the new Studio Display doesn’t support ProMotion, even though that’s been a big selling point for Apple across its lineup of “Pro” products. And mini-LED would offer some brightness advantages, too. But the timing sounds a little weird. Surely there are a lot of people who have been waiting for a standalone Apple display that costs less than the Pro Display XDR, and a lot of them have already ordered the new Studio Display. Maybe they’d have waited if they knew a Studio Display Pro was also imminent?

Shipping products is hard, I’m always reminded.

More on the 27-Inch iMac Being Discontinued ★

Andrew Cunningham, reporting for Ars Technica:

But the future of the big-screened iMac is currently in doubt. Following the announcement of the screen-less Mac Studio desktop today, the 27-inch Intel iMac disappeared from Apple’s online store. The 24-inch iMac is currently the only iMac referenced in the navigation bar, and all existing direct links to its 27-inch counterpart now redirect to the Mac page. Even more mystifying, Apple hardware SVP John Ternus said that there was only “one more” Mac that had yet to make the transition to Apple Silicon — and the system he named was the Mac Pro, not the larger iMac. [...]

Update: Apple confirmed to Ars that the 27-inch iMac has reached end of life.

Apple is going to be Apple, and I don’t think they want to just come out and say that the new Studio Display — combined with a modular approach to which Mac fits your budget and performance needs — replaces the all-in-one 27-inch iMac. But I think clearly it does. The Ternus line in the keynote about “one more” Mac is as big a tell as any.