Apple: XDR Displays Limit Brightness When It’s Hot

Apple says in a new support article that its Extreme Dynamic Range (XDR) displays automatically limit their maximum brightness levels under certain circumstances.

The company says warnings appear in the Display menu and the macOS menu bar when the “display is in low power mode and using limited brightness” because “the ambient temperature of the room is high and you've been playing very bright content for an extended period of time.”

These limitations affect the latest MacBook Pro models, which are equipped with so-called Liquid Retina XDR displays, as well as the Pro Display XDR external monitor. (The company doesn't mention the latest iPad Pro, which also features a Liquid Retina XDR display.)

Apple's suggested mitigations for this problem include putting the connected Mac to sleep to allow the display to cool down for 5-10 minutes, using the display in reference mode, and closing or hiding any windows featuring HDR content as well as quitting power-hungry applications.

The company also says affected customers might want to “lower the ambient temperature of the room,” but if “the issue continues and the ambient temperature of the room is less than 77° F,” it wants those customers to reach out to Apple Support with additional information.

The product page for the Liquid Retina XDR-equipped MacBook Pro models doesn't mention any limits for the display's peak brightness, but Apple does note in the Pro Display XDR's tech specs that its peak 1,600-nit brightness is only available in temperatures below 25° C (77° F).

9to5Mac notes that issues with XDR display brightness probably aren't particularly widespread, especially since the Pro Display XDR has been available since 2019, but situations where it's automatically entered low power mode due to the ambient temperature aren't well-documented.