Apple Studio Display update may arrive a year later than expected

AppleInsider

Apple's rumored update to the Apple Studio Display may not arrive in 2025 after all, with a release in 2026 now expected for the premium Mac display.

Apple Studio Display

On Thursday, a report claimed an update for the Apple Studio Display is in development, which could bring an improved miniLED backlight to the design. However, a few days later, another report states that the timeline is a bit longer than first offered.

According to Bloomberg's "Power On" newsletter on Sunday, the claim of a new 27-inch Apple Studio Display is repeated. The new model is said to have a similar design to the 2022 original, and "roughly" the same size of screen.

This time, however, it is said that the device is being prototyped by Apple, in a very early stage of the design and production process. Codenamed J427, the report doesn't offer any new specification details.

However, the new model will apparently be marketed as a companion item to the M5 MacBook Pro lineup.

While the Apple Studio Display is getting a refresh, the same can't be said for the Pro Display XDR. It is reasoned that the $5,000 monitor is less of a priority due to it being far out of reach for most consumers, though Apple is still interested in the professional market.

Dueling schedules

Sundays report by Mark Gurman offers a timeline that is longer than that proposed by Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants. In Thursday's report, Young said a release later in 2025 was on the cards for the model.

The late 2025 period is close enough to 2026 that a delay in production could result in a 2026 introduction rather than 2025.

Both Gurman and Young have good track records when it comes to Apple products on the horizon, however Young is a specialist in displays. Young also offered more detail about the potential display.

That includes a switch of the LED backlighting system for a miniLED version. The change can allow for the use of localized dimming, increasing the range of shades the display can output, approaching the levels of OLED panels.

Young also brought up that ProMotion could be introduced with the screen. Rather than the 60Hz screen the existing Apple Studio Display can output, a ProMotion version would infer there would be an adaptive refresh rate system, which could go as high as 120Hz.

Rumor Score: Possible

Read on AppleInsider

macxpress

I wonder if they'd bump the size up to a 30" display? I would be nice to see 120Hz ProMotion. Or, perhaps they'll offer the same 27" Studio Display for a cheaper price ($1199 or something like that) and then offer a more expensive 30" Studio Display and then obviously the XDR display for a lot more. I would really like to have (2) 27" Studio Displays but I also don't wanna spend $3500 on displays lol. They'd be a lot better than the cheaper LG 27" 2k displays I have now. 

edited February 16

libertyandfree

macxpress said:

I wonder if they'd bump the size up to a 30" display? I would be nice to see 120Hz ProMotion. Or, perhaps they'll offer the same 27" Studio Display for a cheaper price ($1199 or something like that) and then offer a more expensive 30" Studio Display and then obviously the XDR display for a lot more. I would really like to have (2) 27" Studio Displays but I also don't wanna spend $3500 on displays lol. They'd be a lot better than the cheaper LG 27" 2k displays I have now. 

 Highly unlikely to be a 30” display since Apple maintains a 218 ppi with a 5k display being 27” while the 6k is 32”.  A 30” would mean a 5.5k display (weird) or Apple would need to drop the ppi to 196 and neither seems plausible.  

omasou

My guess, similar to iPad Pro. Same resolution, physically smaller (perhaps thinner) and smaller bezels.

Needs TB5 hub replacing TB3 or monitor still born.

bulk001

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. The one product they did “rush” (after years of development) seems to be a bit of a failure necessitating a move to third parties to clear out their inventory of goggles. Apple “Intelligence” that they have been working on for 7 years I think Cook said has had a faltering rollout too. TL:DR it is no surprise that they will take years and years more work on this before it finally, if ever, sees the light of day. 

nubus

bulk001 said:

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. 

Indeed! Apple delivered the Mac, iPod (developed and launched in less than 12 months), and iPhone... all under the same CEO. For a decade the next big thing was going to be Car and AVP. Concepts copied from Musk + Zuckerberg. One didn't ship and one shouldn't have. Apple upgraded AirPods Max, keyboards, trackpads, and the "charge on back" mouse to USB C thanks to EU but let everything else stay unchanged.

I don't want to see Musk near Apple but someone should review project management and product development before Cook is going full Copland/Taligent on us. From Siri and iPadOS to not being focused on AI and still not delivering. Dell is shipping Tandem OLED in laptops and Asus (Asus!) is delivering Pro displays with tech Apple might use in 2026.

canukstorm

nubus said:

bulk001 said:

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. 

Indeed! Apple delivered the Mac, iPod (developed and launched in less than 12 months), and iPhone... all under the same CEO. For a decade the next big thing was going to be Car and AVP. Concepts copied from Musk + Zuckerberg. One didn't ship and one shouldn't have. Apple upgraded AirPods Max, keyboards, trackpads, and the "charge on back" mouse to USB C thanks to EU but let everything else stay unchanged.

I don't want to see Musk near Apple but someone should review project management and product development before Cook is going full Copland/Taligent on us. From Siri and iPadOS to not being focused on AI and still not delivering. Dell is shipping Tandem OLED in laptops and Asus (Asus!) is delivering Pro displays with tech Apple might use in 2026.

"One didn't ship and one shouldn't have" =>  The one that didn't ship, should have and the one that did ship, shouldn't have.

danox

nubus said:

bulk001 said:

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. 

Indeed! Apple delivered the Mac, iPod (developed and launched in less than 12 months), and iPhone... all under the same CEO. For a decade the next big thing was going to be Car and AVP. Concepts copied from Musk + Zuckerberg. One didn't ship and one shouldn't have. Apple upgraded AirPods Max, keyboards, trackpads, and the "charge on back" mouse to USB C thanks to EU but let everything else stay unchanged.

I don't want to see Musk near Apple but someone should review project management and product development before Cook is going full Copland/Taligent on us. From Siri and iPadOS to not being focused on AI and still not delivering. Dell is shipping Tandem OLED in laptops and Asus (Asus!) is delivering Pro displays with tech Apple might use in 2026.

Since Tim Cook has been CEO of Apple, he certainly is a better CEO than either one of the twins of the apocalypse, Apple may not come out with products as fast as you or I would like, but the profit margin, revenue and product iteration under Tim Cook is far beyond either one of those two guys and it’s not even close, in these perilous times Tim Cook is by far the most mentally stable of the three and if you have-skin in the game, you will/can sleep better with Tim Cook at the wheel if given a choice between the other two, particularly Elon ”Boot Clicking Nightmare” Musk.

edited February 16

macxpress

libertyandfree said:

macxpress said:

I wonder if they'd bump the size up to a 30" display? I would be nice to see 120Hz ProMotion. Or, perhaps they'll offer the same 27" Studio Display for a cheaper price ($1199 or something like that) and then offer a more expensive 30" Studio Display and then obviously the XDR display for a lot more. I would really like to have (2) 27" Studio Displays but I also don't wanna spend $3500 on displays lol. They'd be a lot better than the cheaper LG 27" 2k displays I have now. 

 Highly unlikely to be a 30” display since Apple maintains a 218 ppi with a 5k display being 27” while the 6k is 32”.  A 30” would mean a 5.5k display (weird) or Apple would need to drop the ppi to 196 and neither seems plausible.  

But is it really all that weird? The iMac is a 4.5K display. Apple could release a larger XDR display at a higher resolution, leaving room for a 30" display. 

nubus

danox said:

Since Tim Cook has been CEO of Apple, he certainly is a better CEO than either one of the twins of the apocalypse, Apple may not come out with products as fast as you or I would like, but the profit margin, revenue and product iteration under Tim Cook is far beyond either one of those two guys and it’s not even close, 

Cook is keeping the big ship steady and did a fantastic job as COO. He is doing a fine job on iterations.
But if iterations were enough then Nokia, IBM, and Xerox would still rule the world. They don't.

Sculley and Cook are similar in that they got caught by the Apple CEO Curse by trying to be product persons and visionaries. Knowledge Navigator, Newton, and AVP are all "I want to deliver one more thing" by someone incapable of doing so. Watch got saved by a full repositioning from fashion to health. Apple hasn't launched any succesful new product category since 2016.

suntanironman

nubus said:

bulk001 said:

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. 

Indeed! Apple delivered the Mac, iPod (developed and launched in less than 12 months), and iPhone... all under the same CEO. For a decade the next big thing was going to be Car and AVP. Concepts copied from Musk + Zuckerberg. One didn't ship and one shouldn't have. Apple upgraded AirPods Max, keyboards, trackpads, and the "charge on back" mouse to USB C thanks to EU but let everything else stay unchanged.

I don't want to see Musk near Apple but someone should review project management and product development before Cook is going full Copland/Taligent on us. From Siri and iPadOS to not being focused on AI and still not delivering. Dell is shipping Tandem OLED in laptops and Asus (Asus!) is delivering Pro displays with tech Apple might use in 2026.

Thats’s all very true… if you conveniently ignore a ton of services that were developed and launched under Tim Apple’s leadership. If you don’t ignore all of those however, then it’s not true at all.

iCloud, Apple Music, Apple Card, Apple Pay, Apple TV+, Apple Fitness, Apple News, Apple Arcade… I’m sure forgetting something, but you get my point. Tim Cook transformed (/is transforming) Apple into a massive services company.

And you also forgot some hardware as well: AirPods, HomePod, Apple Watch, AirTag, Vision Pro (you alluded to Vision Pro, but I’m mentioning it again for emphasis).

edited February 17

thedba

nubus said:

bulk001 said:

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. 

Indeed! Apple delivered the Mac, iPod (developed and launched in less than 12 months), and iPhone... all under the same CEO. For a decade the next big thing was going to be Car and AVP. Concepts copied from Musk + Zuckerberg. One didn't ship and one shouldn't have. Apple upgraded AirPods Max, keyboards, trackpads, and the "charge on back" mouse to USB C thanks to EU but let everything else stay unchanged.

I don't want to see Musk near Apple but someone should review project management and product development before Cook is going full Copland/Taligent on us. From Siri and iPadOS to not being focused on AI and still not delivering. Dell is shipping Tandem OLED in laptops and Asus (Asus!) is delivering Pro displays with tech Apple might use in 2026.

The "Apple Car" was never a product. No Apple exec ever got on stage and said it will start shipping on <insert date here>. It was an internal project and the RUMOUR mill was working overtime on it.

The Apple Vision Pro is a product and one may argue, not a very successful one.

As for Tim Cook deliveries under his watch,  AirPods, HomePods, AppleTV+, Apple Music, APPLE SILICON,  APPLE WATCH, Pro display XDR, Apple Studio Display, Apple Vision Pro.

So yeah, a little more than your stated "keyboards and trackpads". 

edited February 17

thedba

macxpress said:

I wonder if they'd bump the size up to a 30" display? I would be nice to see 120Hz ProMotion. Or, perhaps they'll offer the same 27" Studio Display for a cheaper price ($1199 or something like that) and then offer a more expensive 30" Studio Display and then obviously the XDR display for a lot more. I would really like to have (2) 27" Studio Displays but I also don't wanna spend $3500 on displays lol. They'd be a lot better than the cheaper LG 27" 2k displays I have now. 

A couple of 4K displays (they're a dime a dozen nowadays) would be a lot better than your 2K displays. 

I already have an ASD, next to a much cheaper 4K Lenovo 28".  I really would like a 2nd one but even at refurb prices find it expensive in 2025 for what it is.

120Hz is just not important to many of us. I don's spend my time trying to read the fine print while scrolling and I am not a gamer.  

macxpress

thedba said:

macxpress said:

I wonder if they'd bump the size up to a 30" display? I would be nice to see 120Hz ProMotion. Or, perhaps they'll offer the same 27" Studio Display for a cheaper price ($1199 or something like that) and then offer a more expensive 30" Studio Display and then obviously the XDR display for a lot more. I would really like to have (2) 27" Studio Displays but I also don't wanna spend $3500 on displays lol. They'd be a lot better than the cheaper LG 27" 2k displays I have now. 

A couple of 4K displays (they're a dime a dozen nowadays) would be a lot better than your 2K displays. 

I already have an ASD, next to a much cheaper 4K Lenovo 28".  I really would like a 2nd one but even at refurb prices find it expensive in 2025 for what it is.

120Hz is just not important to many of us. I don's spend my time trying to read the fine print while scrolling and I am not a gamer.  

I want Apple displays not some cheap looking POS 4k display on my desk. That was the point. I want Apple Displays. I'd rather have what I have than a panel that is 4K just to have 4K. Not all panels are creatred equal and yeah they're a dime a dozen because most are very poor panels. 

edited February 17

thedba

macxpress said:

thedba said:

macxpress said:

I wonder if they'd bump the size up to a 30" display? I would be nice to see 120Hz ProMotion. Or, perhaps they'll offer the same 27" Studio Display for a cheaper price ($1199 or something like that) and then offer a more expensive 30" Studio Display and then obviously the XDR display for a lot more. I would really like to have (2) 27" Studio Displays but I also don't wanna spend $3500 on displays lol. They'd be a lot better than the cheaper LG 27" 2k displays I have now. 

A couple of 4K displays (they're a dime a dozen nowadays) would be a lot better than your 2K displays. 

I already have an ASD, next to a much cheaper 4K Lenovo 28".  I really would like a 2nd one but even at refurb prices find it expensive in 2025 for what it is.

120Hz is just not important to many of us. I don's spend my time trying to read the fine print while scrolling and I am not a gamer.  

I want Apple displays not some cheap looking POS 4k display on my desk. That was the point. I want Apple Displays. I'd rather have what I have than a panel that is 4K just to have 4K. Not all panels are creatred equal and yeah they're a dime a dozen because most are very poor panels. 

I understand your POV. I try to move most of my work to the ASD and keep the 4K for e-mail, search and MS Teams. Maybe one day the refurbs will come down even further in price and I'll pull the trigger on a 2nd one. 

Right now, they go for $1699 ($1999 new) in the Canadian Apple Store and with taxes it comes out to $1953. 

strangedays

nubus said:

bulk001 said:

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. 

Indeed! Apple delivered the Mac, iPod (developed and launched in less than 12 months), and iPhone... all under the same CEO. For a decade the next big thing was going to be Car and AVP. Concepts copied from Musk + Zuckerberg. One didn't ship and one shouldn't have. Apple upgraded AirPods Max, keyboards, trackpads, and the "charge on back" mouse to USB C thanks to EU but let everything else stay unchanged.

I don't want to see Musk near Apple but someone should review project management and product development before Cook is going full Copland/Taligent on us. From Siri and iPadOS to not being focused on AI and still not delivering. Dell is shipping Tandem OLED in laptops and Asus (Asus!) is delivering Pro displays with tech Apple might use in 2026.

Citing Musk as some kind of product development leader tells me all I need to know about ya. Thanks 

strangedays

nubus said:

danox said:

Since Tim Cook has been CEO of Apple, he certainly is a better CEO than either one of the twins of the apocalypse, Apple may not come out with products as fast as you or I would like, but the profit margin, revenue and product iteration under Tim Cook is far beyond either one of those two guys and it’s not even close, 

Cook is keeping the big ship steady and did a fantastic job as COO. He is doing a fine job on iterations.
But if iterations were enough then Nokia, IBM, and Xerox would still rule the world. They don't.

Sculley and Cook are similar in that they got caught by the Apple CEO Curse by trying to be product persons and visionaries. Knowledge Navigator, Newton, and AVP are all "I want to deliver one more thing" by someone incapable of doing so. Watch got saved by a full repositioning from fashion to health. Apple hasn't launched any succesful new product category since 2016.

Watch didn’t pivot to health, it had the same set of features there from day 1, with a near identical Workouts app, and a major focus on closing out your rings. Day 1. That’s why I bought it. At the time FitBit was a thing and the rumor was Apple was going to make a similar device, which they did. Sleep tracking was hoped for but third party. 

Iterative development is how Apple rolls and has done so for decades (the original Macintosh was a sleeper and required iterations to gather steam). Read up. 

https://daringfireball.net/2010/05/this_is_how_apple_rolls

strangedays

thedba said:

nubus said:

bulk001 said:

Unless it is a chip swap and camera bump, Apple seems incapable of delivering anything in any sort of a reasonable time frame. Apple Watch Ultra they were able to come up with a new color and not even a better chip. 

Indeed! Apple delivered the Mac, iPod (developed and launched in less than 12 months), and iPhone... all under the same CEO. For a decade the next big thing was going to be Car and AVP. Concepts copied from Musk + Zuckerberg. One didn't ship and one shouldn't have. Apple upgraded AirPods Max, keyboards, trackpads, and the "charge on back" mouse to USB C thanks to EU but let everything else stay unchanged.

I don't want to see Musk near Apple but someone should review project management and product development before Cook is going full Copland/Taligent on us. From Siri and iPadOS to not being focused on AI and still not delivering. Dell is shipping Tandem OLED in laptops and Asus (Asus!) is delivering Pro displays with tech Apple might use in 2026.

The "Apple Car" was never a product. No Apple exec ever got on stage and said it will start shipping on <insert date here>. It was an internal project and the RUMOUR mill was working overtime on it.

The Apple Vision Pro is a product and one may argue, not a very successful one.

As for Tim Cook deliveries under his watch,  AirPods, HomePods, AppleTV+, Apple Music, APPLE SILICON,  APPLE WATCH, Pro display XDR, Apple Studio Display, Apple Vision Pro.

So yeah, a little more than your stated "keyboards and trackpads". 

It’s amazing how poorly some folks understand the company this site is dedicated to. All they think about is a new iPhone design it seems.