How to does breaking existing compatibility with 3rd party products fit in to that?

Are we still talking about a monitor stand? You can VESA mount the monitor if you don’t want to buy the stand. I think it’s assumed you’d use a third-party VESA mount, and the stand is there as an alternative for the few people who just don’t want that.. As far as I can tell, you can use a standard VESA mount, you don’t need some kind of Apple-specific one.

> As far as I can tell, you can use a standard VESA mount, you don’t need some kind of Apple-specific one.

To connect a VESA mount to the magnetic mount on the back of the Pro Display XDR, you would require Apple's $200 VESA mount adapter.

It's dongles all the way down!