Apple has announced that they will be discontinuing their Thunderbolt Display line after several years of being sold without any price cuts or updated models.
Earlier reports have claimed that the Cupertino-based tech giant is actually planning to release a new Thunderbolt Display with a GPU built-in for better rendering and color reproduction. However, that seems to be just a myth now that Apple themselves confirmed that they are discontinuing the line.
Apple has not given any details or reasons on why they are discontinuing their display line. Some speculate that they are just moving away from the brand name but they could release a new display product soon.
An Apple spokesperson told TechCrunch: "We're discontinuing the Apple Thunderbolt Display. It will be available through Apple.com, Apple's retail stores and Apple Authorized Resellers while supplies last. There are a number of great third-party options available for Mac users."
There are still some crazy people who want to buy the display despite its absurd price of around $1000 which hasn't changed since it was launched in 2011. Rational people say that Apple has been ripping off people with the display considering that there are cheaper products readily available from competitors.
Apple's Thunderbolt Display only has a 2560 x 1440 resolution at its high price. A cheaper 5K iMac is even available at roughly $800 while most 4K UHD TVs today cost even less.
The new Apple display could feature 5K resolution too with the speculated built-in GPU with a USB-C port instead of the Thunderbolt 3, 9 to 5 Mac reported. There is no confirmation yet from Apple whether they will be launching a new line of displays.
Some even speculate that Apple is completely dropping their display business as they are already pointing customers to third-party options and competitors. They may be focusing their efforts on the upcoming iPhone 7 and the iPhone 8 in 2017.
Apple could still launch a new 5K Thunderbolt Display under a new name with the rumored specs later this year. It could be launched alongside the new MacBook Pro 2016 expected to be unveiled or rolled out by fall.