In memory of the 27-inch iMac Pro with or without Mini-LED, no wait, Mini-LED display with 120Hz ProMotion

Oh, Apple 27″ Mini-LED ProMotion display, the world has lost you far too soon.

You started life as an oddly timed rumor last year following the long-overdue release of the Apple Studio Display. They said you would launch soon after the $1600 display with features worth the money. After all, you would be the first standalone display with variable refresh rate. Quite understandably, you would cost more than the 60Hz Studio Display. Even with refresh rates up to 120Hz, however, you would manage to be more affordable than the $5000 60Hz Studio Display XDR. You might even include a stand for no extra charge!

In short, you were dreamy. But not all dreams come true.

Admittedly, you were misunderstood from the start. In the same week that the first MacBook Pros with Extreme Dynamic Range and ProMotion variable refresh rate were revealed, you became a blip on everyone’s radar. You were said to be arriving in early 2022 as a 27-inch iMac with a Liquid Retina XDR display. Or maybe you would be an iMac Pro with an HDMI port and an SD card slot with a chance of Face ID? October 2021 was a wild time, to be certain.

Both rumors started to align by the end of the year. DigiTimes even weighed in on your existence, or lack thereof, saying that if you were a 27-inch iMac Pro, you would not have a Mini-LED display. Still, belief in your full potential remained. And even your doubters at DigiTimes backtracked the next day. Trying to keep score at home? Good luck.

Finally, the well-sourced Mark Gurman from Bloomberg entered the chat. While others debated specs for an upcoming 27-inch iMac Pro with or without Mini-LED, Gurman simply reported that Apple was working on its next external monitor, which would not be the successor to the Pro Display XDR. A few months later, the Apple Studio Display arrived.

Nevertheless, your theoretical existence as an iMac Pro with Apple Silicon and a Mini-LED display continued. You would launch no sooner than summer, but launch you would, perhaps the following year, claimed another leaker.

Once the Apple Studio Display was made official, our vision (or lack thereof) for what you would be started to come into focus. (It didn’t.) You were no iMac nor an iMac Pro. In fact (not actually a fact), you were actually a standalone display that would launch no later than three months after the supply-constrained Studio Display! Others disagreed, insisting you would certainly be an iMac Pro, but not this year. Apple discontinuing the 27-inch Intel iMac with no Apple Silicon replacement didn’t help clarify anything.

So how has your last year of theoretical existence gone? It’s April 2023: Apple doesn’t make a 27-inch Mini-LED display, nor is there an iMac Pro with or without Mini-LED.

In March 2022, you were coming as early as the following June. Then in May, you were pushed back to no sooner than October 2022. October arrived, but you did not. Instead, you were said to be slated for release sometime between January and March of 2023.

Of course, Q1 2023 has come and gone, and you made no such appearance. Now they say you’re a no-show for this party altogether. But make no mistake. I recognize coy when I see it. Lest we lessen our on reliance on rumors, I fully expect you to be unveiled any day now, you sly 27-inch Micro-LED display with ProMotion you!