Technology

I have another point that I don’t see talked about a lot that I would like to consider. Their XDR Pro model is targeting actual professionals in the video field. Unlike pretty much everything that Apple makes, this monitor is comparable (and downright cheap) when compared side by side with other industry standard color calibrated video monitors. Professional grade video equipment has always been super expensive, and it’s not just an Apple thing. For example, here’s a Sony model commonly used in live broadcast. Same size, but the Apple monitor is actually 1.6X as bright for HDR, it’s higher resolution, and less than half the price. The only downsides being no SDI input, but it can still be used for post-processing just fine, or even live with a converter box. It also informs why the stand for the monitor doesn’t come standard, and is expensive as hell— it’s because they don’t expect anyone in their target market to buy it. They expect most of these monitors to be installed as a drop in replacement in color grading workflows or broadcast trucks, which are all pretty much fully vesa mounted already anyway.

In that context, their XDR Pro monitor makes perfect sense. On a cost basis alone, Apple’s monitor offering is very competitive for the professional video demographic they’re targeting. It’s not for the average power user, it’s for people whose literal sole job rides on colors being accurate.

As for the polishing clothes, yes they’re expensive when purchased separately, but they come “for free” in the box. I would rather they sell them separately than not at all, but the screen really doesn’t require anything special, just any old microfiber cloth should be fine, as long as the cloth is kept clean. Even that markup isn’t insane IMO, it appears to only be a 5-10$ markup on an accessory of a monitor they expect to be very low volume.

Overall, I think the product is just misunderstood more than anything. I don’t think it’s being advertised wrong, I think Apple just has such a proclivity to advertise their other products wrong that people’s expectations aren’t set correctly for when they are actually addressing the actual professional market (cough cough the iPhone PRO, a product that isn’t really a “professional” product in any sense of the word). These are just what professional grade products cost. Sure it’s expensive, but that’s what they have to cost to make these devices viable for any business to manufacture. The combination of low volume, high cost for components with a better than average precision, and pro grade calibration means that they just plain cost a lot more to make.

Equipment like this and the Sony monitor above are used in environments where they just need to work EVERY single time, and there is 0 room for failure. As an example, running shading (color grading) on a live broadcast, think events like the super bowl. Using any old monitor, you may not be able to tell the coke ad you are cueing up is going through your shading workflow, and their red branding is slightly off-color. That could easily be a million+ dollar mistake, I’ve seen similar things actually happen in the field (with other advertisers I will not mention for my own sake). Or god forbid you loose picture entirely. I’ve been in similar positions, and broadcast engineers/companies will pay any amount of money to make sure their equipment is top of the line, and won’t fail ever. If you don’t believe me, take a look at some other pro grade video gear, like a grass valley kayenne. The scale of money is simply, different with pro video equipment.