Apple Studio Display. The Apple Studio Display is expected to get an upgrade in the not-too-distant future. Here's what the rumor mill has claimed will be coming. The Apple Studio Display was launched back in early 2022, making it almost three years old at the time of publication. After a stumbling start, the display has received many firmware updates, improving its capabilities over time. However, the rumor mill constantly believes that there will be a hardware update on the horizon for the model. One that will bring more features to the premium monitor in its second-gen release.
This is what has been claimed by the rumor mill about the next iteration of Apple's second-most expensive display. The current backlighting system of the Apple Studio Display uses rows of LEDs, which shine through a TFT LCD layer. For a second-gen model, Apple is believed to be switching the tech used for backlighting from LED to MiniLED. The idea is that Apple could use many hundreds of MiniLEDs for the backlighting, allowing for a more even level of light being emitted to the user's eyes. With the strategic use of localized dimming, the display could feasibly make sections of the screen much darker than an LED backlight could manage, allowing for much deeper blacks and dark shades of color to be used.
While not quite to the level of OLED on that front, it should be fairly close without the expense. Rumors on the MiniLED version have circulated not that long after the launch of the original model. Going back to May 2022, Display Supply Chain Consultants analyst Ross Young insisted that a 27-inch MiniLED monitor was to be produced by Quanta, but COVID-19 lockdowns derailed the plans. Young also said the display was on track for an October 2022 release. Later in the year, Young said an early 2023 release was on the cards, but that too didn't happen.
By February 2023, Young said that there were no signs of the display entering mass production, and so a release wasn't imminent. In April of the same year, Young then said Apple had "killed off the 27-inch display completely." While Apple had made some supply chain progress in 2022, it was paused "at least for now.". Just one day later, TF Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo proposed that the screen was to enter mass production in 2024 or early 2025, complete with the MiniLED backplane.
Things went pretty quiet about the new Apple Studio Display until February 2025, when Young raised the prospect of the display once again, complete with Mini LED. The current Apple Studio Display has a 5K Retina screen, with a resolution of 5,120 by 2,880. The next one may be a lot higher than that. The monitor was said back in March 2022 to have a 7K display. This works out to be a lot higher than the 6K panel used in the Pro Display XDR.
At the time, the high resolution was thought to mean Apple was planning to change the size of the screen. At 32 inches, this would give the new monitor a pixel density of 245ppi, higher than the 218ppi of both monitors. For Apple to reuse the 218ppi pixel density, a 7K screen would have to measure at around 36 inches. The early 2025 rumors, however, indicate that Apple would be using the same size of display as the existing model. Young's claim was that the focus would be on the backlighting change, while retaining the 27-inch size and 5K resolution.
A February 2025 rumor from Bloomberg also said that the new model will be "roughly" the same size of screen. Both the Pro Display XDR and Apple Studio Display have a maximum refresh rate of 60Hz. The next display may go further than that. In November 2024, an anonymous rumor sent to the Upgrade podcast claimed that Apple would be upping the refresh rate to 90Hz in a new model. Due to the nature of anonymous rumors, there's no way to determine the track record of the leaker, or whether it is valid.
ProMotion was brought up in Young's February 2025 claim, mentioning the feature by name., but not the refresh rates involved. As a feature, ProMotion on an iPad Pro or a Pro-grade iPhone can go up to 120Hz. It's also an adaptive refresh rate, which can change from the highest to very low rates, depending on the content being viewed. It's plausible that a 120Hz refresh rate could be used on a new monitor, as other displays on the market can go even higher than that.
The rest of the specifications of the new Apple Studio Display are pretty much unknown, but it's likely to follow the same formula as the existing model. For example, having an onboard A-series chip to handle processing duties, as well as the image signal processing of the built-in webcam. However, there are two features that are entirely plausible for Apple to employ in a future display, even if they're not brought up in rumors.
