Apple may be planning a new display that could turn into a smart TV

Apple Studio Display, as shown in the monitor's advertisement

(Image credit: Apple)

According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a rumored new display with a custom Apple silicon chip may allow the monitor to act entirely independently of the Mac - effectively acting as a smart TV when not in use.

As spotted by The Verge, rumors have begun circulating about Apple’s plan to update its display range. The new smart display could be very similar to the StandBy feature coming to iOS 17 later in the year. The upcoming iPhone feature will turn your screen into a smart display when plugged in to charge and turned on its side, displaying a clock and select widgets.

Gurman claims in his newsletter that the monitor could incorporate a chip similar to the A-series Bionic processors Apple has integrated into the iPhone. This isn’t exactly news as the current Apple Studio Display already has an A13 chip for software functionality related to the camera and speakers.

Is Apple working on new monitors? https://t.co/8ckDBoM18QI’m told Apple is working on multiple next-generation monitors, including a large-screen panel with an iOS device chip and software stack. The idea is that the screen could double as a Mac monitor and a smart home display…July 2, 2023

As it stands, we don’t really know a lot about the key characteristics of the possible monitor Apple is working on. There have been rumors of a successor to the Pro Display XDR, and Apple might also be venturing into larger display sizes with a 30-inch iMac model in early development.

What else should a new Apple display be capable of?

These whispers of an updated display bring a lot of excitement to fans of the Apple Studio Display, especially if iOS 17 features are indeed to be incorporated. Hopefully, we’ll see the tech giant treat the potential new display as a well-rounded device in its own right, and more than just an addendum to the Mac product line.

For example, I hope to see Apple take the entertainment route and let the smart display run widgets for streaming apps like Netflix and YouTube that you can control through your phone, and alongside simply displaying a clock we could see newer and more useful widgets thanks to the expanded capabilities of macOS Sonoma.

In short, there's potential here for Apple to create an all-in-one display that could be a game changer in the monitor game. Whatever we get, I'm looking forward to it.

Muskaan is TechRadar’s UK-based Computing writer. She has always been a passionate writer and has had her creative work published in several literary journals and magazines. Her debut into the writing world was a poem published in The Times of Zambia, on the subject of sunflowers and the insignificance of human existence in comparison. Growing up in Zambia, Muskaan was fascinated with technology, especially computers, and she's joined TechRadar to write about the latest GPUs, laptops and recently anything AI related. If you've got questions, moral concerns or just an interest in anything ChatGPT or general AI, you're in the right place. Muskaan also somehow managed to install a game on her work MacBook's Touch Bar, without the IT department finding out (yet).