Hold off on those Studio Display orders–a mini-LED ‘Pro’ model could be coming

Whatever happened to that new 27-inch display with mini-LED backlighting that we heard about last year? Well, the same source (Ross Young of Display Supply Chain Consultants) says it’s still on the way and could arrive in June.

Young previously reported that the display would be in an iMac first, and a stand-alone display later, with the iMac due for release in the spring. He later clarified that his contacts didn’t understand that the iMac was actually a Studio Display and Mac Studio since the monitor has a processor, speakers, camera, and so on. But Ross still expects a stand-alone display with mini-LED backlighting to be released in June, as panel production has already begun according to his contacts.

Apple Studio Display Pro?

Ross claims that the new 27-inch panel will have about 7 times the number of LEDs and twice as many lighting zones, which sounds less like an upgrade to the just-released Studio Display and more like an upgrade for the Pro Display XDR, which was first announced at WWDC in June of 2019 and made available that December.

The Pro Display XDR, however, is a 32-inch display with 6K resolution, while the panel that Ross claims has entered production is a 27-inch, 5K panel. It could be a new third product in the lineup that slots in between the Studio Display and Pro Display XDR. Ross says he has not confirmed if the new display has support for 120Hz ProMotion, though Apple’s other mini-LED displays on the iPad and MacBook Pro have that support (though the ProDisplay XDR does not). Ross previously reported that the panel itself is indeed capable of variable refresh (24Hz to 120Hz), but he hasn’t specifically reported whether Apple would include it in the final product.

Apple launched its 27-inch Studio Display at the “Peek Performance” event on March 8. You can preorder one now starting at $1,599 with availability beginning March 18—unless you want to hold off for a few months in case something better comes along.