It’s very clear that Apple were going for peak brightness above all else. Nobody else has even tried to make a bright 6k display – in fact, every non-Apple 6k display is outright dim by modern display standards – they’re barely brighter than the original 5k display in the 2015 iMac!1
For the price of one Apple Pro Display XDR you can get four Asus ProArt 6k displays.
I suspect there’s only two 6k panel models in existence – the one used by Apple & Asus, and the one used by LG & Dell. Possibly the Asus one is a slightly updated version of Apple’s (just speculation given the six years between the two products’ introductions).
It’s strange to me that Dell haven’t dropped the price of their 6k display given that LG are offering the same panel in a much svelter package for 15% less (and you can get the very similar Asus display for 45% less!).
| Pro Display XDR | LG UltraFine™evo 6K Nano IPS Black Monitor with Thunderbolt™ 5 (32U990A-S) | Dell UltraSharp 32 6K (U3224KB) | Asus ProArt Display 6K (PA32QCV) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Screen diagonal | 81 cm | 80 cm | 80 cm | 80 cm |
| Resolution | 6,016 ⨉ 3,384 | 6,144 ⨉ 3,456 | 6,144 ⨉ 3,456 | 6,016 ⨉ 3,384 |
| Pixel count | 20,358,144 | 21,233,664 | 21,233,664 | 20,358,144 |
| Backlight zones | 576 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Pixels per backlight zone | 35,344 | 21,233,664 | 21,233,664 | 20,358,144 |
| Pixel density | 218 | 224 | 224 | 218 |
| Contrast ratio | 1,000,000 : 1 | 2,000 : 1 2 | 2,000 : 1 3 | 1,500 : 1 4 |
| Peak sustained brightness | 1,600 (≤ 25℃) | 4505 | 450 | 450 |
| Maximum “black” luminence | ? | ≤ 0.16 | ≤ 0.17 | ≤ 0.18 |
| Bit depth | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Display P3 coverage | 98.7% 9 | 98% | 99% | 98% |
| Adobe RGB coverage | 96.7% | 99.5% | ? | ? |
| Rec 709 coverage | ? | ? | 100% | ? |
| sRGB coverage | 94.3% | ? | 100% | 100% |
| Refresh rate | 47.95 – 60.00 Hz | 60 Hz | 60 Hz | 60 Hz |
| USB Power Delivery | 96W | 96W | 140W | 96W |
| Connectivity | 1⨉ Thunderbolt 3 3⨉ USB-C (5 Gb/s10) | 2⨉ Thunderbolt 5 3⨉ USB-C (10 Gb/s, 1 up 2 down) 1⨉ DisplayPort 2.1 1⨉ HDMI 2.1 | 2⨉ Thunderbolt 4 5⨉ USB-C (10 Gb/s, 1 up 4 down) 1⨉ Mini DisplayPort 2.? 1⨉ HDMI 2.? 1⨉ 2.5 Gb Ethernet (RJ45) | 2⨉ Thunderbolt 4 3⨉ USB-C (5 Gb/s, 1 up 2 down) 1x USB-C signal switch (for KVM) 1⨉ HDMI 2.1 1⨉ 3.5mm stereo audio (out) |
| Built-in KVM | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Dimensions (excluding stand) | 41.2 ⨉ 71.8 ⨉ 2.7 cm | 41 ⨉ 72 ⨉ 2.56 cm | 49cm ⨉ 71cm ⨉ 6.6 cm | 41.97 ⨉ 71.42 ⨉ 4.69 cm |
| Naive volume11 (excluding stand) | 7,987 cm³ | 7,559 cm³ | 23,069 cm³ | 14,058 cm³ |
| Weight w/ stand | 11.8 kg | 9.48 kg | 13.29 kg | 9.3 kg |
| Weight w/o stand | 7.48 kg | 5.99 kg | 8.62 kg | 6.3 kg |
| Price w/o stand | $4,999 US | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Price w/o stand w/ nano texture | $5,999 US | $1,999 US | $2,350 US | $1,299 US |
| Introduced | December 2019 | October 2025 | May 2023 | August 2025 |
| Discontinued | March 2026 | – | – | – |
- Apple don’t appear to have ever published a brightness spec for the original Retina iMac, but Tom’s Guide measured their review model at 382 lumens.
The comparison to the original Retina iMac is apt because it was the first of the retina [desktop] displays, of which these 6k displays are all members. It also had the exact same pixel density – 218 PPI – as the Apple and Asus displays – i.e. each individual pixel is the exact same size – so it’s a very fair point of comparison despite the overall differences in resolution. ↩︎ - This is what LG states in the monitor’s specifications. Yet, LG also states that this monitor is DisplayHDR 600 certified, which means it’s required to have a static contrast ratio of at least 8,000 : 1. ↩︎
- As with the LG, Dell states a 2,000 : 1 contrast ratio even though DisplayHDR 600 conformance requires at least 8,000 : 1. ↩︎
- Asus states a 1,500 : 1 contrast ratio even though DisplayHDR 600 conformance requires at least 8,000 : 1. Though they also describe the 1,500 : 1 as “typical” while also listing 3,000 : 1 as the maximum. ↩︎
- LG says “typical” brightness is 450, with minimum being 360, without explaining the difference – e.g. whether that’s for a white patch vs full-screen white, or perhaps depending on ambient temperature. I’m choosing to be generous and assume it’s merely a temperature thing, and not likely to be a concern in a typical indoor environment, because 360 is ridiculously dim. ↩︎
- LG don’t explicitly state this, but it’s a requirement of the DisplayHDR 600 conformance. ↩︎
- Dell don’t explicitly state this, but it’s a requirement of the DisplayHDR 600 conformance. ↩︎
- Asus don’t explicitly state this, but it’s a requirement of the DisplayHDR 600 conformance. ↩︎
- Apple don’t state the actual coverage – just vaguely reference the various colour gamut standards – so these are the figures as actually tested by PCMag. ↩︎
- Only when used with Macs which support DSC (Display Stream Compression), otherwise the USB-C ports are limited to USB 2.0 (400 Mb/s). ↩︎
- Meaning the simple product of the three maximal dimensions. Some of these displays have curved backs, so their actual volume will be substantially less. ↩︎
