Apple’s ‘Mac Studio’ and New iOS-Powered Monitor ‘Ready to Go’: Gurman

As we head into Tuesday’s ‘Peek Performance’ Apple event, analyst Mark Gurman has shared a last-minute update on the ‘Mac mini’ and a new external monitor from the company.

According to the Bloomberg writer and crystal ball-holder for everything Apple, the latest addition to the company’s Mac product line — the so called ‘Mac Studio’ — should be unveiled at tomorrow’s event.

Gurman describes the new Mac as a “smaller Mac Pro/more powerful Mac mini.”

Am told the Mac Studio (smaller Mac Pro/more powerful Mac mini) plus the new monitor running iOS are “ready to go” – so I believe they should arrive tomorrow. https://t.co/MvrGwTfGmy

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) March 7, 2022

The highly rumoured Mac Studio desktop computer was featured in renders from YouTuber Luke Miani earlier today.

Not much is known about the device yet as far as internals and expected performance go, but reports suggest Apple has been working on at least two different versions of it — one with an M1 Pro chip under the hood, and another powered by even beefier Apple Silicon.

Gurman also expects Apple to unveil a new Mac mini sometime soon, if not at tomorrow’s launch event.

Gurman said in his tweet that both the Mac Studio and Apple’s new external monitor are “ready to go” for tomorrow’s event. The new “Studio Display” from Apple is predicted to be an external monitor — Apple’s first since 2019 — with a 7K resolution, running iOS.

Per Gurman, the monitor will be powered by one of Apple’s A-series iPhone chips. This could likely be the A13 Bionic-equipped external display Apple was reportedly testing last year. Code-named J237, the display Apple was testing also had the company’s Neural Engine onboard.

Back in December, LG was reported to be working on three new displays for Apple, so more external monitors from the iPhone maker could be on the horizon.

Other product announcements expected at Apple’s ‘Peek Performance’ event include a new iPhone SE, the iPad Air 5 (possibly with an M1 chip instead of an A15 Bionic), and maybe a new colour option for the iPhone 13.

Gurman ceded in a follow-up tweet that it wouldn’t make sense for Apple to announce new Apple Silicon like the expected M2 chip at the same event as a Mac mini and/or Mac Studio powered by M1 series chips.

Another note: I think it will be odd for the M2 to be announced alongside an M1-series Mac mini/Mac Studio/Small Mac Pro — so maybe we should look for that as part of the May-June cycle. On the other hand, Apple is testing M2 Macs (8 CPU/10 GPU cores) against App Store apps now.

— Mark Gurman (@markgurman) March 7, 2022

The analyst added that next-generation Apple Silicon may be relegated to Apple’s May-June product launch cycle, but noted that the company is already testing M2-powered Macs against App Store apps right now.

In the latest edition of his Power On newsletter on Sunday, Gurman rounded up his predictions for Apple’s March event.

‘Peek Performance’ is set to kick off on Tuesday, March 8, at 10 a.m. PST/1 p.m. EST. Stay tuned for our full coverage of the event, and get your wallets ready.