Is Apple Also Working on Its Own Inexpensive 4K Display?

Mac Pro With LG Ultrafine Displays Credit: Hadrian / Shutterstock
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Apple has mysteriously pulled its 4K LG UltraFine Display from its online Apple Store in the United States, following its removal from other stores around the world, a move that has left us wondering if Apple may in fact be working on making a more widespread return to the display business.

According to MacRumors, the LG 4K display had been listed as “Sold Out” for a long time, so the removal of it from the store may not be a huge surprise, and it may also just be a question of lower customer demand. Apple is notably still carrying the 5K version, and the same version of the LG 4K UltraFine Display continues to be available elsewhere for the same price that Apple sold it for, so it doesn’t appear that LG has discontinued it, but rather that Apple has simply chosen to no longer sell it.

Apple partnered with LG back in 2016 to design the 4K and 5K UltraFine displays to replace Apple’s own ThunderBolt displays, and both were primarily targeted at users of Apple’s newest MacBook Pros at the time, which had gained support for ThunderBolt 3 that year. Only those initial two models were designed in partnership with Apple, and were the only ones sold in Apple Stores.

Although LG has recently released a new 4K UltraFine Display, this model was designed without Apple’s involvement, and is priced at $1300; by comparison, the 2016 Apple-sponsored 21.5-inch version sold for $700. It doesn’t seem likely that Apple plans to add LG’s newest model to its lineup.

While Apple’s partnership with LG led many to believe that the company had abandoned producing its own standalone displays, reports surfaced earlier this year that Apple is planning a dramatic comeback with a 31-inch 6K Apple Display that we could see as early as WWDC in June, when Apple is also expected to unveil a new modular Mac Pro. The new display would not only be noteworthy for its 6K resolution and larger size — at 31 inches, it would be the largest display Apple has ever made, beating out the 30-inch Apple Cinema Display, which was discontinued in 2010 — while also marking Apple’s first foray into mini-LED technology.

However, there’s no question that this rumoured 31-inch display is going to be a very high end piece of kit, and likely intended to be primarily a companion to Apple’s upcoming Mac Pro more than anything else. It certainly doesn’t seem like it’s going to be a good fit for MacBook Pro users looking to add an external screen, or Mac Mini users who need a monitor in the first place.

With Apple returning to building standalone displays however, it seems likely that the company could also plan to offer a more complete lineup of displays, and an affordable 4K Apple-made display is something that many have been hungering for. With last year’s release of a new Mac Mini, it seems even more perplexing that Apple would stop offering any inexpensive display options in its own retail stores; while a monitor is a secondary accessory for MacBook users, its an essential component for anybody purchasing a Mac Mini, and we can’t see Apple expecting Mac Mini customers to go purchase a monitor somewhere else, not to mention the single-cable convenience that the Apple-sponsored LG monitors were able to provide.

[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]

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