Sorry Apple, but I’m waiting for the Studio Display 2

Opinion: All the features, except the ones that matter

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Toward the end of 2021, I did a deep cleaning and rearranging of the office I worked from home in for eighteen months.

This was mainly due to the fact that theMacBook ProI’ve had since October lets me take my work anywhere that has a desk. But recently, I’ve been working on what a setup in that office with the MacBook Pro would look like, and so I’ve been searching for a new monitor.

When theApple Studio Displaywas announced at the company’sMarch 8 event, it had almost everything that I could want from anAppledisplay, but was missing some hugely key features.

FaceID first appeared in 2017 with the debut of theiPhone X, giving you the option to scan your face in order to open the phone, instead of scanning your finger with TouchID. While some have assumed that the lack of FaceID is because the A13 chip built inside the monitor lacks asecurity featurethat’s required for the function, I don’t believe that it’s the only thing stopping Apple from bringing this to its monitor.

It’s not a design decision

Between 1999 and 2011, Apple released three monitors with the nameCinema Display, each with different sizes, from 20-inch to 27-inch, and price points. None of these had a webcam built-in until the last of the Cinema Displays released in 2010.

However, they were great peripherals to have for a workspace, and for any Mac you owned.

Yet, Apple is a company that puts privacy over features and design above all else. This has been its mantra sinceTim Cooktook over as CEO in 2011, so you would assume that the new display, with its built-in camera featuringCenter Stage(where the camera follows you wherever you go), would include FaceID.

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But instead, it does not – FaceID is still shackled to Apple’s iPhones and iPads.

Sitting down at a desk in an office, while FaceID recognizes you, without you having to lift a finger is very appealing, especially for accessibility needs where there’s no additional effort required to unlock your device. Its omission is bizarre.

But while I find FaceID a strange omission, I can at least understand ProMotionbeing missing from the Studio Display, even if I would have liked it.

This feature allows a display to generate images at a faster rate per second, resulting in smoother animations. TheiPad Prowas the first Apple device to have this, followed by theiPhone 13 Pro, then the MacBook Pro 14-inch (2021).

To have this in a 27-inch display is a stretch, and would have most likely driven up the price from $1499 / £1499 / AU$1539 significantly.

I’ll wait for Studio Display 2

There are some Apple products where it’s best to wait for the second-generation release.Apple Watch Series 2withwatchOS 2was a big refinement compared to what came out in 2015. The Apple Pencil benefited greatly in its second version from charging on the side of an iPad, instead of a lightning port.

I’m confident that the Apple Studio Display will be another example here of where omissions from the first release will appear in a second-generation model. There may even be different sizes to choose from alongside ProMotion.

Regardless of the faults, it’s great that Apple is releasing its own displays again. The Studio Display is surely going to sell well with creatives and programmers.

And hopefully, we’ll see FaceID break free of iOS and benefit those who work on a Mac at a desk, especially for the sake of those with accessibility needs.

Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he’s written a book, ‘The Making of Tomb Raider’. His second book, ‘50 Years of Boss Fights’, came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2025. He also has a newsletter called ‘Springboard’. He’s usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that’s about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.

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