Apple’s new Studio Display has 64GB of onboard storage, because why not?

Apple’s new Studio Display officially hit the market on Friday, and we continue to learn new tidbits about what exactly’s inside the machine. While Apple touted that the Studio Display is powered by an A13 Bionic inside, we’ve since learned that the Studio Display also features 64GB of onboard storage, because who knows why…

Apple says that the A13 Bionic chip inside the Studio Display is used for tasks including image processing on the camera, Center Stage, and Spatial Audio for music and video playback. The A13 Bionic certainly seems like overkill for these tasks, but Apple at least has somewhat of an explanation for this choice.

On the flip side, as first spotted by Khaos Tian on Twitter, the Studio Display also apparently features 64GB of onboard storage. Yes, 64GB: double the storage in the entry-level Apple TV 4K and the same amount of storage in the entry-level iPad Air 5. Also worth noting: the Apple TV 4K is powered by the A12 Bionic chip, so the Studio Display has it beat on that front as well.

Apple hasn’t offered any explanation for why the Studio Display features 64GB of onboard storage. It appears that less than 2GB of that storage is actually being used as of right now.

It makes sense that the Studio Display would need some amount of onboard storage, primarily because the display supports software updates and storage space is required to perform those updates. 64GB, however, seems incredibly excessive if it’s there simply for software updates.

One unexciting possibility is that the A13 Bionic chip used inside the Studio Display is literally the exact same A13 Bionic chip that was first shipped in the iPhone 11. As you might remember, the iPhone 11 came with 64GB of storage in its entry-level configuration, meaning Apple likely produced millions of A13 Bionic chips with 64GB of onboard storage.

What do you think? Will Apple ever tap into the A13 Bionic chip and 64GB storage inside the Studio Display for something more interesting? Let us know down in the comments.