Reviewers panned Apple’s Studio Display webcam, but a software fix is coming

Multiple reviews of Apple’s new $1,599 Studio Display, including ours, came away less than impressed with the quality of the built-in webcam. We noted that the camera’s image quality was passable for video calls, but it produced grainier pictures with worse detail than images from front-facing iPhone cameras or even decade-old 1080p webcams like Logitech’s C920.

Apple has confirmed to multiple outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, that the Studio Display webcam’s image quality is being affected by a software bug and that the company is working on a fix.

Daring Fireball’s John Gruber shares slightly more detail, credited to “little birdies” (in DF parlance, usually a thinly veiled reference to Apple employees in a position to know about something). They say the Studio Display’s webcam quality issues were due to “a bug introduced at the last minute” and that the software update should make the webcam’s image quality look about as good as it does on iPads with the same wide-angle Center Stage-compatible camera.

The Studio Display uses an Apple A13 SoC to power Center Stage, Siri, and a handful of other smart features, and the SoC runs a version of iOS (down to the exact same version and software build number). Updates for that embedded version of iOS will be downloadable via Software Update on a connected Mac, just like other macOS updates. We’ve contacted Apple to ask about the content and timing of this update and will report back if we receive a response. 

Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.

Listing image by Apple