In the subscribers-only section of his weekly newsletter, Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman (who has reported accurately on new Apple hardware in the past) claims that Apple will introduce an external Mac monitor that can act as a smart home display when a Mac goes to sleep or is shut down.
The feature would be available on at least one monitor in an upcoming lineup that will likely include successors to Apple's Pro Display XDR and Studio Display. The newsletter didn't go into much detail about the upcoming displays beyond the smart home feature.
Like the Studio Display, a new monitor with smart home capabilities would run on a chip first seen in the iPhone. The Studio Display contains Apple's A13 chip—the same seen in the iPhone 11 line of smartphones. The upcoming smart display could potentially run on the A16 seen in the iPhone 14 Pro, since that device introduced a similar always-on display feature to Apple's smartphone lineup.
I wouldn't anticipate the introduction of a Mac Studio in the near future. The upcoming Mac Pro is very similar in functionality to the Mac Studio — and adds the M2 Ultra chip rather than the M1 Ultra. So it wouldn't make sense for Apple to offer an M2 Ultra Mac Studio and M2 Ultra Mac Pro at the same time. It's more likely that Apple either never updates the Mac Studio or holds off until the M3 or M4 generation. At that point, the company may be able to better differentiate the Mac Studio from the Mac Pro.To date, little has been rumored about the next-generation Mac Studio, so Gurman's latest remarks are the firmest indication yet that a new version of the machine is unlikely to arrive any time soon.
Considering the end user the Mac Pro (and rack mountable Mac Pro) are aimed at, this would be a total mistake. PCIe support and huge user-upgradable RAM quantities are a requirement for people that are interested in buying a 50k$ rack-mountable Mac. Otherwise, buy Mac Studio
— Enrico Teofilo (@Enrico_Teofilo) January 26, 2023
defeated the point, bring back the trashcan design then.
— yourgood (@goodo1dday) January 26, 2023
That’ll leave it dead in the water. A dud for all but a tiny tiny fraction of power users. Really, what would be the point of the massive expenditure, if the AS GPU will be so far behind nVidia’s best.
— Dutch Dimension (@DimensionDutch) January 26, 2023
After the debut of a new full-sized HomePod, many users started asking about an update to the mini model. But at this point, I don't believe that Apple is actively working on such as product. The latest HomePod doesn't include any major new functions that aren't already in the $99 mini, so there isn't an obvious reason to update the model. Sure, it would be nice to get more colors, a cheaper price, and better sound and microphones, but the real improvements probably need to be made on the back end — with Siri and app integration.The HomePod mini was announced in October 2020 at Apple's iPhone 12 event. Less than half a year later, Apple discontinued the original HomePod, leaving the HomePod mini as the company's only smart speaker until this week when Apple relaunched the full-size HomePod form factor.