Thunderbolt Display Of Apple

Apple's Thunderbolt Display is over three years old now, having been announced in July 2011 but not shipping until two months later. Apple display updates have always been very hard to predict due to their erratic update cycle, and while Apple's 2013 Mac Pro launch seemed like an opportune time for Apple to launch an upgraded standalone display, no such product surfaced.

Current Apple Thunderbolt Display

At the extreme end of possibilities would be a true Retina Thunderbolt display, offering four times as many pixels as the current Apple Thunderbolt Display, coming in at the same 5120 x 2880 pixels seen on the new 27-inch Retina 5K iMac. A display at this size would be able to offer the same amount of screen real estate as the current display but with a much sharper appearance, using the same technology as in the Retina MacBook Pro.

A alternative goal would be "4K" resolution of either 4096 or 3840 x 2160 pixels. Apple has touted its new Mac Pro as being able to drive three such displays simultaneously, leading to speculation that the company is planning to launch its own 4K display at some point in the relatively near future.

New 4K panels from AU Optronics and Dell's announcements of new 4K displays have also fueled speculation regarding Apple's plans. Apple offered a 32-inch 4K Sharp display in its European Online Stores for a short period of time before removing it, but the display returned to the store alongside the new Mac Pro, putting a damper on hopes of an imminent 4K display launch from Apple.

During CES 2014, several companies, including Asus, Lenovo, LG, and Seiki debuted 4K monitors at relatively low prices, indicating that the technology is becoming both more widely adopted and more affordable for consumers, potentially removing price barriers that have prevented Apple from debuting a 4K Thunderbolt display. Dell has also announced plans to launch a $699 28-inch "4K" display with a 3840 x 2160 resolution on January 23.

OS X Mavericks 10.9.3, released in May of 2014, included enhanced support for 4K monitors, with new native Retina resolution settings. While the update increases compatibility with a number of existing 4K monitors from third-party vendors, it could also be a hint that Apple has its own 4K solution in the works.

NO CONCRETE RUMORS

With the Mac Pro having launched without an accompanying announcement regarding Apple's 4K display plans, timing remains unclear. Ultimately, there are still no concrete rumors suggesting when Apple will update its displays.

Though prices on 4K panels have begun to drop, the graphics requirements needed to drive high-resolution displays may lead Apple to continue to offer either the current Apple Thunderbolt display or a redesigned version of it in order to offer a product compatible with the MacBook Air and other Macs lacking the graphics capabilities to drive the number of pixels in an upgraded display.

A July rumor suggested that Apple had a 4K desktop in the works, which was said to be a new iMac, a new 4K display, or both. The 4K desktop was said to be slated for a late fall release to highlight OS X Yosemite.

Another rumor suggested Apple could release a new 5K ultra-high definition 27-inch monitor later in 2014, with a resolution of 5120 x 2880. At the same time, the new Displayport 1.3 standard could allowfuture Macs to support high-resolution displays in the coming months.

Apple released a 27-inch Retina iMac with a 5120 x 2880 display on October 16, 2014, but did not release a new Thunderbolt display at that time.

The new 27-inch Retina iMac is unable to function in target display mode because none of Apple's Macs are powerful enough to handle the bandwidth necessary for 5K video over a single cable, which is likely why no 5K display was introduced.

Plug-and-play support for 5K external displays will require the new DisplayPort 1.3 standard, which will launch alongside Intel's Skylake processors in late 2015 or 2016.