2018 saw Apple finally update the computer some multi-display desktop fans have long been holding their breath for: Mac mini. As 2019 begins, the professional market is looking towards a massive refresh of the Mac Pro and native display offerings from Apple.
However, with CES these past two years showing off so many OLED and 8K displays, the question begs, how can Apple truly innovate in the pro monitor space this year?
Taking a leap forward past the competition, Dell has today announced the launch of its UltraSharp 32-inch Ultra HD 8K Monitor and a massive 27-inch horizontal touchscreen, the Dell Canvas. The UltraSharp 32 is the “world’s first” 32-inch 8K display, packing in a whopping 1 billion colors and a 280 ppi. The Dell Canvas is a “smart workspace” designed as a plug and play system for Windows 10 devices looking to unleash everyone’s creativity.
Last week, Apple’s biggest display partner LG Display published an explainer on 8K (7,680 by 4,320 resolution) screens, claiming that the specification is the future of display technology. LG has already demonstrated 8K monitors at CES in Las Vegas, and notes that the panel boasts 16 times the number of pixels as a standard Full HD screen. Strangely, however, LG’s document explicitly says that Apple is working on an 8K version of the iMac (emphasis ours):
It has become clear that Japan is planning to launch an 8K SHV test broadcast and then promptly restructure the UHD service. Apple has also announced that they will release the ‘iMac 8K’ with a super-high resolution display later this year. Korea is also preparing to offer an 8K service demonstration at the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics. LG Display displayed a new beacon of the 8K era by revealing their 98-inch 8K Color Prime Ultra HDTV at CES 2015.
As anyone who reads up on Apple would tell you, this statement from LG Display is not accurate: Apple has not announced an iMac with an 8K display and has not publicly indicated that one is coming this year…
The 27-inch iMac with Retina 5K display may have the highest resolution screen in the world today, but it seems Apple will have to up its game next year if it wants to retain that title: 8K displays are expected to arrive sometime in 2016.
The Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) has announced Embedded DisplayPort standard version 1.4a, which uses a new compression standard to support higher resolution panels, together with greater color depth and faster refresh rates. The new standard allows manufacturers to pipe around four times as much data to displays to support panels with resolutions of up to 8K.
The standard will also benefit machines with lower-resolution screens by enabling displays to be thinner, and extending battery-life in laptops by reducing the power required to transfer data to them.
