Apple's Studio Display gets poor reviews, Apple vows to improve the webcam quality via software update

A good webcam has become indispensable for many users in today's work-from-home era.  While some laptop manufacturers have already reacted to the home office boom and are slowly but surely paying more attention to the previously neglected front-facing cameras, Apple's new US$1,599 external 5K monitor called the Studio Display unfortunately stands out negatively in this regard according to first reviews.

The Apple Studio Display recently received numerous mixed and even scolding reviews from several well-known tech publications. Besides complaints about unimpressive picture quality and the overall outdated display technology, the blurry image quality of the integrated ultra-wide-angle webcam appears to be another flaw of the Apple Studio Display. WSJ editor Joanna Stern perfectly illustrated this issue with comparison pictures posted on Twitter. After she and other reviewers informed Apple about the underperforming webcam, it confirmed that the Studio Display's camera module does not behave as intended, and that its performance will be improved with an upcoming software update.

Apple has not provided a time frame for the release of the aforementioned update. But in terms of hardware, the Apple Studio Display should definitely be able to deliver a better webcam experience as it features a decent 12 MP camera module paired to a very capable Apple A13 Bionic SoC which is also found in the iPhone 11. Therefore, buyers of the fairly expensive external 5K monitor can reasonably hope that Apple will in fact be able to improve the webcam’s picture quality with software modifications.

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