For years, Mac users have wanted Apple to ship an external display that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg.
Filipe Espósito at 9to5 Mac has some good news on that front:
The new display is being developed under the codename J327, but at this point, details about technical specifications are unclear. According to sources, this display will have an Apple-made SoC, which right now is the A13 Bionic chip — the same one used in the iPhone 11 lineup.
Having an Apple silicon SoC inside the display is interesting. Espósito goes on to say that it will be used to speed up machine learning tasks and even act as an external GPU for the connected Mac:
Today’s report from 9to5Mac’s sources suggests that Apple has not given up on its plans to launch an external display with some sort of SoC, at least internally. Having a CPU/GPU built into the external display could help Macs deliver high-resolution graphics without using all the resources of the computer’s internal chip.
Apple could also combine the power of the display SoC with the Mac’s SoC to provide even more performance for running intensive graphic tasks. Another possibility is to use this SoC to add some smart features to the Pro Display XDR, such as AirPlay.
That gets this new display dangerously near Duo Dock territory, which would surprise me.
It’s possible that this A13 could just be the brains of the display, especially if it can be used as a hub for accessories. After all, the old Thunderbolt Display had a tiny computer inside, as does the Pro Display XDR.
This theory makes more sense to me than the former, especially when considering the longevity of external displays. At some point, the extra oomph something like the A13 or even M1 could add to a connected Mac would be eclipsed by the natural evolution of Mac hardware.