Apple reveals Studio Display monitor with 5K Retina display
Meet the new 27in Studio Display with Apple silicon inside
Apple has pulled the covers from a brand-new monitor, the Studio Display. Announced in tandem with the new Apple Mac Studio, the Studio Display is Apple’s first foray into the world of display technology since the Pro Display XDR, a 32in 6K behemoth. The Studio Display might not have the raw pixels of the Pro Display XDR, but there’s plenty here to raise eyebrows.
The headline features are as follows. The Studio Display is a 27in monitor with a 5K (5,120 x 2,880) display in a traditional 16:9 aspect ratio. That’s a total of 14.7 million pixels and a density of 218ppi, at which point you won’t be able to spot individual pixels (hence the Retina display bit). This extraordinary panel has a peak brightness of 600 nits and supports Apple’s “P3 Wide Colour”, which means it’s colour-accurate to the wider DCI-P3 colour gamut used by filmmakers. It’s capable of producing one billion colours, and it supports Apple’s True Tone technology, too.
The display is encased in an all-aluminium shell with narrow bezels and a reasonably slim profile. It has an anti-reflective coating that can be swapped out for a unique nano-texture glass that “scatters light and minimises glare”, apparently. On the rear, you’ll find three USB-C ports capable of transfer speeds of up to 10Gbits/sec, and a Thunderbolt port that can supply up to 96W of power – which means you can charge a connected 14in MacBook Pro – as well as carry a video signal and transfer files. There are no HDMI, DP or USB-A ports here, but you can connect up to three Studio Displays to a single Mac Studio.
Suspending all of this in the air above your desk is an aluminium stand that by default offers 30 degrees of backwards tilt. You can upgrade (for a fee) to a stand that also provides 105mm of height adjustment. There’s also a model that’s VESA-compatible, so you can mount the display on an aftermarket arm.
The fun doesn’t stop there. Inside the Studio Display is an Apple A13 Bionic processor – the same one found inside the iPhone 11 – that works in tandem with the built-in 12MP ultrawide camera and triple-array microphone to deliver a few nifty features usually associated with Apple’s iPads, iPhones and Macs. Chief among these is Center Stage, the automatic subject tracking tech found on the new iPad Air (among many other devices). Four built-in woofers and two tweeters provide Spatial Audio via Dolby Atmos, meanwhile.
That’s pretty much everything you need to know about the Studio Display features-wise. The monitor is available to purchase today and will ship on 18 March. The base model will set you back a staggering £1,499 – that’s the model with the standard anti-reflective coating and basic stand. The model with nano-texture glass and the basic stand is £1,749. Add the height-adjustable stand and you’ll pay £400 extra, taking your total to either £1,899 or £2,149. Yikes.