It's official: Samsung's Studio Display rival blows Apple's 5K beast out of the water

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A $1000 saving?

Samsung ViewFinity S9
(Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung has revealed the release date and pricing for the ViewFinity S9 monitor in South Korea, which looks set to be an incredible option to rival Apple's Studio Display. 

The ViewFinity S9 will launch in the country on July 3 and is priced at 1.7 million won, approximately $1,300. While Samsung hasn't revealed pricing or availability in the U.S. yet, if this price is anything to go by, the monitor would be a much better option than Apple's Studio Display.

The Samsung ViewFinity S9 was initially revealed at CES 2023 and is a 5K 27-inch display with a matte finish that reduces 99% of the DCI-P3 wide color gamut. The display also includes a 60Hz refresh rate, 600 nits peak brightness, and a gorgeous adjustable metal stand. For perspective, the Apple Studio Display starts at $1,599, but you'd need to pay $2,299 to add a matte finish and a height-adjustable stand. That means the ViewFinity S9 is about $1000 cheaper than Apple's equivalent model if the South Korean pricing is anything to go by.

Samsung says the "monitor’s built-in Color Calibration Engine ensures precise screen color and brightness, allowing users to adjust white balance, Gamma and RGB color balance for perfect accuracy with their smartphones through the Samsung Smart Calibration application. The Matte Display limits light reflection and glare to minimize distractions while working."

If the price for similar specs wasn't enough to convince you how good a deal this monitor could be, the ViewFinity S9 also has a 4K built-in webcam that is higher resolution than the notoriously terrible one found in Apple's Studio Display.

Will the Samsung ViewFinity S9 cross the Pacific?

Samsung hasn't confirmed a release Stateside as of yet, but considering the monitor was revealed at CES in Las Vegas, it's surely just a matter of time until we get to test out the ViewFinity S9 for ourselves. When it does release, we fully expect the monitor to be one of the best monitors for desktop computers like the Mac Studio, as well as one of the best monitors for Mac, hands down.

John-Anthony Disotto
John-Anthony Disotto
How To Editor

John-Anthony Disotto is the How To Editor of iMore, ensuring you can get the most from your Apple products and helping fix things when your technology isn’t behaving itself. Living in Scotland, where he worked for Apple as a technician focused on iOS and iPhone repairs at the Genius Bar, John-Anthony has used the Apple ecosystem for over a decade and prides himself in his ability to complete his Apple Watch activity rings. John-Anthony has previously worked in editorial for collectable TCG websites and graduated from The University of Strathclyde where he won the Scottish Student Journalism Award for Website of the Year as Editor-in-Chief of his university paper. He is also an avid film geek, having previously written film reviews and received the Edinburgh International Film Festival Student Critics award in 2019.  John-Anthony also loves to tinker with other non-Apple technology and enjoys playing around with game emulation and Linux on his Steam Deck.

In his spare time, John-Anthony can be found watching any sport under the sun from football to darts, taking the term “Lego house” far too literally as he runs out of space to display any more plastic bricks, or chilling on the couch with his French Bulldog, Kermit.