Apple Could Finish Its Apple Silicon Transition by WWDC 2022; Working on a Cheaper External Display

BY Rajesh Pandey

Published 2 Jan 2022

Apple Mac Pro and Pro Display XDR

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has shared a list of all the products he expects Apple to release in 2022 and shared a timeline for the transition of the remaining Macs to Apple Silicon chips. Apart from the usual new iPhones, Apple Watch, and iPad refresh, Gurman believes Apple is working on a cheaper external monitor that will be about “half the price” of the Pro Display XDR.

The catch here is that Gurman hopes Apple will launch this cheaper new external display in 2022, meaning the company still has not finalized plans to launch the product this year. At $4,999, the Pro Display XDR is expensive for most consumers, so a cheaper alternative would be welcome.

There are rumors of Apple working on a new external display with a built-in A13 Bionic chip that could speed up certain tasks and other features. Additionally, the company is reportedly working on 24-inch and 27-inch external monitors that will sit below the Pro Display XDR.

Additionally, Gurman shared an interesting tidbit about the Cupertino company’s transition to Apple Silicon Macs. He expects Apple to finish “its transition to its own silicon from Intel chips as early as June at WWDC 2022.” As a part of the transition, Apple will release a new high-end Mac mini, an iMac Pro, and a redesigned Mac Pro with up to 40 CPU cores and 128-core GPU. Apple could end up announcing the new iMac Pro and Mac mini in March or April and then showcase the Mac Pro at WWDC 2022 to complete the transition. If this does turn out to be accurate, Apple will have a very busy first half as it is rumored to announce the iPhone SE 3 and new iPads around the same time.

Apple is expected to announce the redesigned M2 MacBook Air this year. Gurman believes that the M2 chip will be a minor refinement over the M1 with improved GPU performance and won’t bring any significant leap in performance or efficiency as the former. The jump in performance would be similar to “those that Apple makes annually on the iPhone.” This makes sense as Apple will build on the M1 chip and focus on fixing its shortcomings with its successor. The new M2 MacBook Air will supposedly launch in the first half of the year.

Do you expect Apple to release a cheaper Pro Display XDR alternative? If so, what size? And what features would you like to see in it? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

[Via Power On]