According to sources at 9to5Mac, Apple's next external display could take a radically new direction with a dedicated A13 chip and Neural Engine. The company is reportedly working on an external display codenamed J327, which the site believes could be the successor to the Pro Display XDR.

Apple's A13 chip, despite being nearly two years old, is still capable today. The chip is found in both the iPhone 11 family and Apple's entry-level iPhone SE, and benchmark tests show that it is still capable of powering flagship Android devices.

The Neural Engine, on the other hand, first debuted in the Apple A11 chip in the iPhone X. Its purpose was to accelerate machine learning tasks, most importantly in the introduction of Face ID and Animoji.

The big question is what those two objectives would look like with an external monitor; according to 9to5Mac, the chip would combine the processing and graphics power of the screen with the Mac connected to it. This would allow the computer to "provide high-resolution graphics without using all the resources of the computer's built-in chip," or simply reach a level of performance that neither could manage on its own.

Another, more prosaic possibility is the introduction of smart features. Having its own SoC might bring AirPlay to future external displays, or the Neural Engine feature might bring Face ID to larger screens.

The site emphasizes that nothing is set in stone, and Apple's plans could well change; after the Thunderbolt Display was discontinued in 2016, Apple's replacement product with a built-in GPU to provide graphics to connected Macs was rumored to be in development.

Apple eventually introduced a new premium external monitor three years later, but the Pro Display XDR had no such internal functionality and cost $4,999 without eGPU capability ($5,999 with stand). According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple's display with an internal A13 chip would be in the expensive category, but there are rumors that the company is developing a cheaper consumer version.