This was in response to the following question by a user: “Are there still new Apple monitors in development?”. Gurman said that Apple is working on a number of external displays at the moment. These monitors might be launched as the successors of Studio Display and Pro Display XDR.
StandBy Mode on Studio Display?
Interestingly, Gurman said that the external display that will double down as a smart display when not in use will feature an A-series chip that we usually see in iPhones and iPads. Studio Display also features an A-series chip so this does not come as a surprise. The 27-inch Studio Display that costs $1,599 comes with an A13 chip. It is the same chip that is found in the iPhone 11 series. However, the A-series chip in Studio Display is only used for camera and speaker features. For example, you can use Center Stage and Spatial Audio on Apple Studio Display because of the A13 chipset. Now, Gurman reports that A-series chips might perform more functions on future external displays. We have already seen Apple introduce StandBy in iOS 17 at World Wide Developer Conference last month. If Gurman’s speculation is to be believed, we will soon see StandBy mode on Apple external displays and the feature will work with the courtesy of an A-series chip. For the unaware, the StandBy feature on iOS 17 compatible iPhones turns an iPhone into a smart display when connected to a power source in horizontal mode. Users can use full screen widgets when StandBy mode is enabled. The introduction of the StandBy mode is probably setting the stage for introducing the feature to bigger screens. Because it would make much more sense to use a smart display on bigger screens where there is no need to put it on charging in a horizontal orientation. However, Gurman says that the project is quite ambitious but Apple is not expected to release an external display with smart display functionality until 2024 at the earliest. In addition to smart displays, Gurman also wrote in his newsletter that Apple is also planning to bring a new hearing health and body temperature measurement feature to AirPods. The company is looking forward to finding ways to position AirPods as hearing aids.
