Apple's Studio Display is now even more useful for pro users

Apple Studio Display
(Image credit: Apple)

The thought of a monitor software update might still seem strange to some of us, but that's the world we live in and the Apple Studio Display has a new one to call its very own.

Apple's 27-inch, 5K monitor might not be for everyone, and at $1,599 few would argue that's a bargain. But if you're someone who wants a 5K display at this size you could definitely do worse. And the software updates can actually come in pretty handy, as this version 16.4 release shows.

According to Apple's release notes — release notes for a monitor! — this update does a couple of things, but the main one is an improvement for people who need to recalibrate their displays regularly.

In-field recalibration is a go

Apple's release notes don't always tell the full story about a software update, but they're pretty clear here. The company says that the 16.4 version of its Studio Display software "adds support for in-field recalibration of the display using Pro Display Calibrator." It then goes on to add that it "enables specific color workflows that may require custom calibration by an in-house spectroradiometer."

The release notes then link out to an Apple support page about how that's done, but at the time of writing it doesn't seem to actually work. Hopefully, that'll change in the near future.

Recalibration can come in handy for obvious reasons, especially for those who are working with images and videos that require accurate color reproduction. For those people, this will no doubt be a welcome addition to the Studio Display's arsenal of pro tools.

The release notes also suggest that there are "minor stability improvements" in this release, too.

Of course, those who really want the best Mac monitor around should still look elsewhere. The Pro Display XDR is the way to go, but it's far from cheap. Thankfully there are plenty of Pro Display XDR alternatives on the market.

Oliver Haslam
Contributor

Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too.

Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.