Apple claims its new Studio Display XDR is the "world's best" – 27-inch, 5K Retina and mini-LED

Apple Studio Display XDR — (Image credit: Apple)

Quick Summary

Apple has announced two Studio Display monitors, with a replacement for the six-year-old Pro Display XDR at last.

Priced from £1,499 / $1,499, the new monitors each come with a 27-inch 5K Retina display, although the Studio Display XDR also sports a 120Hz refresh rate and 2,000 nits brightness.

It's been a while but Apple has finally replaced its six-year-old Pro Display XDR with a new, cheaper model. And it claims the 27-inch Studio Display XDR is the "world's best", to boot.

Its mini-LED backlight has over 2,000 local dimming zones to ensure there is minimal light bleed between pixels, while Adaptive Sync is also on board to adjust frame rates for smooth video playback or gaming.

The standard Studio Display [pictured above] is no slouch either. It also comes with a 27-inch 5K Retina display capable of brightness of up to 600 nits. It has P3 wide colour support, and houses a 12-megapixel Center Stage camera in its bezel.

It has a 60Hz refresh rate.

You get two Thunderbolt 5 (120Gb/s) ports, along with two USB-C (10Gb/s) inputs, that's exactly the same as on the Studio Display XDR. Both monitors can also be spec'ed with Apple's Nano-texture glass on the front for a glare-free experience.

Both displays come with a built-in six-speaker system, including force-cancelling woofers. They support Spatial Audio for music and video playback when using Dolby Atmos.

Apple Studio Display and Studio Display XDR pricing details

The standard Apple Studio Display starts at $1,499 / £1,499 with traditional glass. You can upgrade to Nano-texture glass from $1,799 / £1,799.

The Apple Studio Display XDR starts at $2,999 / £2,999 with the Nano-texture version price from $3,299 / £3,299.

Both come with a Thunderbolt 5 Pro cable in the box, and each would make for an ideal desktop companion to the new M5 Pro and M5 Max MacBook Pro models.

Those were also announced today, with pre-orders starting tomorrow, 4 Match 2026.

TOPICS

Rik is T3’s news editor, which means he looks after the news team and the up-to-the-minute coverage of all the hottest gadgets and products you’ll definitely want to read about. And, with more than 35 years of experience in tech and entertainment journalism, including editing and writing for numerous websites, magazines, and newspapers, he’s always got an eye on the next big thing.

Rik also has extensive knowledge of AV, TV streaming and smart home kit, plus just about everything to do with games since the late 80s. Prior to T3, he spent 13 years at Pocket-lint heading up its news team, and was a TV producer and presenter on such shows as Channel 4's GamesMaster, plus Sky's Games World, Game Over, and Virtual World of Sport.

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