Any specs / details?
Found this:
We need an affordable Apple display!!!
forums.macrumors.com
I wouldn't put much credence into the spin that got layered on top of a rumor there by 9to5mac.
It is probably not an eGPU in any normal sense. ( Running AirPlay 2 from an iPhone to a Roku streamer isn't an 'eGPU' in the common sense of the term. There is a GPU involved and it is external but they aren't substantively connected running generic app making calls to the TV's GPU. )
As much as that is probably "detached from reality", the assertion that this will replace the XDR is about equally fanciful and unmotivated by rational observation of the leak.
At least as likely as being there for an 'eGPU' would be as an option to complete "Universal Control" as a wireless KVM option.
"...
Universal Control4
Use your keyboard, mouse, and trackpad across Mac and iPad
Use a single keyboard, mouse, or trackpad to work between your devices. ...
"
macOS Sequoia brings effortless window tiling, web browsing with fewer distractions, new iPhone Mirroring, and support for Apple Intelligence.
www.apple.com
"
First, you need to get the iPad and Mac relatively close to each other. Universal Control is built off of the same Continuity and Handoff features that have long been a part of iOS and macOS. When the devices are close enough, their Bluetooth modules let each other know.....
Then, you start up Universal Control by dragging your mouse pointer all the way to the left or right edge of your Mac’s screen, then a little bit
beyond that edge. When you do, the Mac will assume that you’re trying to drag the mouse over to another device, in this case the iPad....
...
... At this point, a Wi-Fi Direct connection is made and the iPad will show a small bar on the side with a little bump. ..."
It’s just a good use of technologies Apple had already built.
www.theverge.com
Right now "Universal Control" only does 'K' and 'M". It is missing 'V'. Tossing an A13 into a monitor could be similar to the partial motivation behind Apple tossing the T1 into a Mac. ( it is here to do some other stuff so let's also do a touch bar ).
So an Apple monitor with wireless 'V' is on your desk. You plug in a laptop. So that is one input ( still keeping with Apple's dogma of one and only one physical input socket) . There is a Mac Mini to the left and an iPhone to the right of the laptops. Push the cursor "over the edge" on the left and the monitor/keyboard/mouse all attach to the Mini ( which is running some rendering or other job want to check on and interact with). You get text message and push the cursor back through the Mini's workspace desktop edge but the laptop's also and get a mirror image on screen from phone. Type in text to respond to message and come back to laptop.
The new AppleTV 4K has an Apple A12 in it. An A13 would work well too in the roll of being an AirPlay2 (or perhaps there is an AirPlay 3 ) target. So no just local physical desktop video connection, but local area network wireless video too. For the growing segment of folks who stream close to 100% of all their "TV" entertainment... this could be an actual "Apple TV with screen" as a side effect of including the Apple Silicon.
Third, Apple's new AR/VR combo goggles are reportedly deeply vested in leveraging wireless video.
The first AR/VR headset that Apple has in development will need to be wirelessly tethered to an iPhone or another Apple device to unlock full...
www.macrumors.com
If the A14, and A15 are compressing and broadcasting video using a mix of Apple GPU and Neural core tricks then a A13 could be able to decode that kind of video stream too without the specifics of the goggle's more customized decode chip. Or .... the Monitor could just use the goggle's instead of this A13 when this monitor gets out of the protoyping stage. if Apple is looking for a relatively much higher volume device to stick those customer SoCs into to drive the economies of scale costs down on ... a monitor would work. The goggles probably have the ability to be an AirPlay video target too.
If apple is building a custom " D-series" SoC for their "display monitors" ( like the VR googles) then they could be tossing it into a more mainstream monitor also.
In short, the A13 (or some follow on Apple Silicon variant ) there is pretty likely going to be leveraged to get deeper traction into the rest of the Apple product ecosystem. That would run
hugely counter to that Apple Silicon doing anything that actually covers more in the value utility the XDR monitor covers. This wireless video quality is not going to be wired XDR quality. It is more likely going to be "good enough" (e.g., Apple Sidecar wireles mode which is 30Hz or something like that. WiFi 6E may help that over time.).
P.S. Apple has put about zero effort so far into bringing eGPU to macOS on M-series. Apple didn't no eGPU device development under their own branding on macOS on intel. ( Collaborated with Blackmagic on a couple of their eGPUs , but Apple wasn't doing industrial design or physical implementation work there at all. )
The next gen XDR should be heading toward wired DisplayPort 2.0 ( and maybe HDMI 2.1 if get off of the only one input obsession.. ) . If 8K gets traction as a broad market deliver platform in 4-5 years then current 6K isn't going to hold up well over next 10 years as the resolution. As much as Apple would like to make all wired connectivity go away over time, this is the wrong end of the product spectrum for that.
