UK Regulators Tell Apple to Cease ‘Beyond HDR’ Pro Display XDR Claim
Apple is adjusting its marketing in the United Kingdom following an investigation by the country’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). The investigation called into question language that Apple used that stated the Pro Display XDR was “far beyond HDR,” among other claims.
Apple’s Pro Display XDR was one of the most exceptional monitors any Apple user could have purchased when it was released and carried a hefty price tag as a result. PetaPixel recently revisited the Pro Display XDR to see how the $5,000 monitor (or $6,000 if you choose the nano-texture glass) holds up today, as it has not seen a price change since its introduction.
And as is noted there, Apple did an excellent job bringing $30,000 reference display quality to a monitor that costs considerably less than that and even though it’s now nearly two years old, it still is one of the best high-end displays on the market. But tech moves fast, and Apple is no longer alone at the top when it comes to excellence at this price. The Dell mini-LED 4K HDR monitor, which also costs $5,000, has many features that might make it a better choice for more people.
Apple is the king of marketing though and, as a result, the Pro Display XDR is likely still quite popular. That’s probably why the ASA had to step in and address complaints about some of the claims Apple makes with regard to the monitor’s prowess despite its age.
According to Engadget, as of today the Apple is no longer marketing the display as such on its product page in the United Kingdom following complaints that the ASA had received over how Apple markets the monitor. Additionally, 9to5Mac notes that the company also needed to specify that the monitor only supports 99% of the P3 color gamut, as the complaint noted that the marketing was misleading customers into believing that it was capable of 100% of that color gamut.
Read more: 5 Things You Should Know Before Buying the Apple Pro Display XDR
Below you can see the different language used on the United States-based website compared to what is seen on the UK version of the same product page:
In the color section, the UK version now has a note next to the P3 color gamut claim that clarifies how much of the gamut the monitor is able to reproduce:
A final complaint to the ASA called into question Apple’s 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio, though as the case has been “informally resolved” as of April 7 and the contrast ratio claim is still present on Apple’s UK website, changing that language appears to not have been a part of the resolution. 9to5Mac says that it is being told Apple is in the midst of having an independent test confirm the claim.
Only the United Kingdom’s version of the Apple Pro Display XDR product page is affected by these changes.