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IFA 2019: all the news from Europe’s biggest tech showcase

IFA is Europe’s biggest tech showcase, and it’s where many of the year’s top tech products get announced for the first time. Every year, companies from around the world descend on Berlin to show off everything from new phones, laptops, headphones, TVs, speakers, and a huge variety of smart home gadgets for good measure. This year should see a healthy mix of announcements, but mobile phones could be especially interesting, thanks to manufacturers’ continued interest in foldable devices. Check back here often for all of the biggest and most important news from IFA 2019.

  • Jon Porter

    Sep 7, 2019

    Jon Porter

    Roku TV is coming to the UK with Hisense’s upcoming sets

    Image: Hisense

    Roku is bringing its TV operating system outside of North America for the first time, the company announced at IFA today. Hisense UK will release its first TVs powered by Roku in the fourth quarter of this year. Previously, Roku’s television operating system has only been available in North America where it’s been featured in TVs from TCL, Sharp, and Hisense’s US arm.

    We’ve always liked Roku’s TV operating system, so it’s great to see it launch outside of North America. When we reviewed last year’s TCL 6-Series television, for example, we found that Roku’s software was simple and easy to use. It also, crucially, has pretty much every streaming app you could ask for. That’s more than what could have been said for Amazon’s competing Fire TV platform in the past, which lacked native YouTube support until recently, thanks to Amazon’s spat with Google.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Sep 6, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Braun speakers make a return with Airplay 2 and Google Assistant

    Legendary design brand Braun is back in the speaker business with its first new products since the original Dieter Rams-designed LE line 28 years ago, launching a trio of modern takes on the classic speakers at IFA 2019: the LE01, LE02, and LE03, via 9to5Mac.

    Or, sort of: the speakers aren’t technically being produced by Braun itself, but rather by Pure Audio, which licensed the Braun Audio branding from Procter & Gamble earlier this year. That said, the three new speakers are clearly inspired by Rams’ original design, albeit with some modern innovations added in, like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. That also means the new speakers support things like AirPlay 2, Chromecast, and Google Assistant, thanks to built-in microphones.

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 6, 2019

    Jon Porter

    Qualcomm’s 5G modem is coming to midrange phones next year

    Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

    Qualcomm will integrate 5G connectivity into its 6- and 7-series chipsets starting next year alongside its flagship 8-series processors, the company announced at IFA today. Qualcomm says that these chips will support a full range of 5G technologies, including being able to connect to sub-6Ghz and mmWave spectrums.

    Today’s announcement means that it won’t just be flagship phones that will get an integrated 5G modem; it will also come to the kinds of processors that are used in more midrange and budget devices. Starting next year, we should start to see 5G move beyond expensive flagship devices like the OnePlus 7 Pro and Samsung Galaxy Note 10 that made up much of the first wave of 5G device releases.

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 6, 2019

    Jon Porter

    Huawei’s latest AirPods imitators add noise cancellation

    Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge

    Huawei is adding noise cancellation to the third-generation of the FreeBuds, its true wireless earbuds that look almost identical to Apple’s AirPods. The FreeBuds 3, which the company announced onstage today at IFA 2019, include four hours of battery life in the earbuds themselves, and come with a circular puck-shaped charging case that expands their total listening time to 20 hours. The earbuds are available in either black or white.

    Huawei claims that the FreeBuds 3 are the world’s first noise-cancelling headphones with an open-fit design. What this means is that the earbuds don’t create a sealed physical barrier between your ear canal and the world around you, like the silicon tips on regular in-ear noise-cancelling headphones try to do.

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  • Chris Welch

    Sep 5, 2019

    Chris Welch

    LG’s new G8X ThinQ bets that two screens are better than a foldable one

    In the shadow of Samsung taking a second attempt at launching the Galaxy Fold, LG has come to IFA 2019 with a different approach to unfolding a phone’s potential: dual screens. Today the company is announcing the LG G8X ThinQ, and with it comes a revised take on the “Dual Screen” snap-on case that LG launched in Korea with the V50 earlier this year. LG says it’s been at work on this idea since long before foldables became the buzzy thing of 2019.

    The secondary screen now connects over USB-C instead of with the help of pogo pins. It’s now the same size as the phone’s primary 6.4-inch FHD+ display so they look like a more natural pair. The hinge is much improved and offers full 360-degree tilt freedom with good sturdiness. On the outside is a small 2.1-inch screen for quickly glancing at the time or your notifications. And the whole thing uses less power this time around.

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 5, 2019

    Jon Porter

    Jabra’s Elite 75t earbuds boost battery life and make the long-awaited switch to USB-C

    Jabra’s Elite 65t true wireless earbuds were the default recommended alternative to AirPods for a long time. They were one of the first pairs to nail the basics of solid connectivity, satisfactory battery life, and good-enough sound quality. But other companies like Sony, Beats, and Samsung have managed to catch up in recent months. So it makes sense that at IFA 2019, Jabra is ready to unveil what’s next. The Elite 75t earbuds aren’t a significant change of pace from their predecessor, but they combine numerous improvements to make for a nicely upgraded product overall.

    Battery life has increased by 50 percent to 7.5 hours on a single charge, they now charge with USB-C, and they’re also 20 percent smaller, which Jabra claims means they’ll be more comfortable in a wider range of ears. They look pretty similar to the 65ts, even down to the charging case, but the nub sticking out from each earbud is less noticeable now.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Sep 5, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    The Motorola One Zoom offers four cameras at an affordable $450 price

    Motorola has a second new phone for its One series, which it announced at IFA 2019: the Motorola One Zoom. It offers four rear cameras (including a 3x zoom lens that gives the phone its name), while still hitting a fairly affordable $449.99 price point.

    The standout feature here is obviously the camera system, which, as mentioned, has a total of four lenses: a main camera with a 48-megapixel sensor (which shoots quad-pixel 12-megapixel stills and offers OIS), an 8-megapixel telephoto lens with 3x optical zoom and OIS, a 16-megapixel ultra wide with a 117-degree field of view, and a 5-megapixel depth sensor for portrait mode shots. That’s in addition to the front-facing camera, which offers a 25-megapixel lens in a teardrop notch. While it’s not the first phone to offer four rear cameras, it is one of the cheapest yet.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Sep 5, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Lenovo embraces Google Assistant with new Smart Display 7 and convertible tablets

    Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

    Lenovo was one of the first companies to build a Google Assistant-powered smart display, and at IFA 2019 it’s introducing a few new Google Assistant display options: a smaller Smart Display 7 and a pair of Smart Tab tablets that run Android, but offer enhanced Assistant integration thanks to a new Ambient Mode feature.

    First up is the Smart Display 7, which joins Lenovo’s larger Smart Display 8 and Smart Display 10 models. As the name implies, it offers a seven-inch screen, instead of the eight- and 10-inch options on its larger siblings, as well as a new design that puts the speaker below the display, instead of on the side. Otherwise, it runs the same Google Assistant software as the others, including a camera (with a physical, sliding shutter) for video calls, just in a more compact format.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Sep 5, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Nokia’s iconic 2720 flip phone is the latest model to be resurrected by HMD

    HMD has been resurrecting classic Nokia phones in modernized forms for the last few years — first with the iconic Nokia 3310 and then the Nokia 8110 (the “banana phone” from The Matrix). At IFA 2019, it announced its latest nostalgic throwback: a modern version of the Nokia 2720 flip phone.

    Like the revamped 3310 and 8110, the new 2720 is part of what HMD calls its “Nokia Originals” line, which offers modernized spins on classic Nokia designs. In this case, that’s the flip phone, which is getting a sleeker design, a larger 2.8-inch internal display, and some new features.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Sep 5, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    New Nokia 6.2 and 7.2 phones revamp HMD’s midrange lineup

    Nokia 7.2
    Nokia 7.2
    Photo by Alix Diaconis / The Verge

    One of HMD’s biggest strengths for its Nokia line of phones has been that it has devices at nearly every price and spec level. At IFA 2019, the company announced the newest updates for its middle-of-the-road phones: the new Nokia 6.2 and the Nokia 7.2.

    Visually speaking, the two phones share a lot in common due to a shared chassis and design. Both offer a refreshed design that combines an aluminum chassis with a die-cast polymer on top, which is sandwiched between glass on the front and back of the device.

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 5, 2019

    Jon Porter

    As the world embraces true wireless, Sony isn’t leaving neckband headphones behind

    While over-ear headphones prioritize comfort over bulkiness and in-ear headphones offer an extremely lightweight experience, neckband headphones supposedly offer a best-of-both-worlds form factor that Sony isn’t going to leave behind anytime soon. It announced its new WI-1000X M2 earbuds today at IFA, and I got a chance to try them out on the show floor.

    The headphones use a hybrid-drive system that combines a main 9mm driver with a balanced armature driver, and there’s a 3.5mm port and USB-C plug for making a wired connection and charging the headphones, respectively. But the thing that should make you sit up and take notice is the inclusion of the same noise-canceling processor as the one that was included in Sony’s WH-1000X M3, which played a part in making them our pick for the best wireless headphones right now.

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  • Tom Warren

    Sep 5, 2019

    Tom Warren

    How Samsung fixed the Galaxy Fold

    Back in April, we reviewed the Galaxy Fold, and things didn’t go according to plan. We experienced issues with the review unit’s display that appeared to be from debris getting through the hinge and damaging the screen. Other reviewers peeled off a protective film that was meant to be permanent, and it resulted in some major issues for Samsung. After a delay to the release of the $1,980 device, Samsung is back at IFA in Berlin this week with a fixed version that’s sturdier and has made improvements to the hinge mechanism. I got a chance to see exactly what Samsung has changed over the past several months.

    You need to look closely at the updated Galaxy Fold to spot what’s new, but there are some key changes in a variety of areas. The biggest update is that Samsung has now extended the protective film to under the bezels of the device so you can no longer peel it off. I tried to peel it off multiple times and failed, as it’s beyond the bezel and impossible to get your fingernails close to. We’ll need to test this fully, but I’m confident that Samsung has addressed this particular problem.

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  • Chris Welch

    Sep 5, 2019

    Chris Welch

    Sony goes super colorful for its latest truly wireless earbuds

    Photo by Chris Welch / The Verge

    Truly wireless earbuds are better than ever in 2019, but one thing’s been missing from a lot of them: some nice, vivid color. Coming off strong reviews for its WF-1000X M3 noise-canceling earbuds, Sony is announcing a new set: the WF-H800 Hear.In 3 that come in several colors that really stand out from the black and light gray of the M3s. The red / black combo is my favorite, but there are also green, blue, black, and coral choices.

    Like the M3s, these earbuds each connect to your phone simultaneously. Sony says they can get a total of 16 hours of battery life. That’s eight hours of continuous playback from the earbuds themselves and an additional full charge from the battery case. They feature 6mm drivers and a “tri-hold” structure that makes contact with your ear in three spots to keep them there securely. You won’t get any active noise cancellation from these, but if they fit snug and you get a good amount of noise isolation, it might not matter all that much.

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 5, 2019

    Jon Porter

    The Xperia 5 is Sony’s return to compact phones

    Image: Sony

    The Xperia 5 is Sony’s return to making compact smartphones. Earlier this week, Sony teased that the new phone would be small enough to fit “in the palm of your hand,” and as expected it’s a relatively small device with a form-factor that’s smaller than many current flagships. Sony’s senior executive vice president Shigeki Ishizuka boasted that the new phone packs Sony’s advanced technologies into a “relatively compact” body.

    However, there are a few upgrades in the device compared to Sony’s previous compact phones like the XZ2 Compact. It’s got a 6.1-inch 2,560 x 1,080 resolution OLED screen that supports HDR with the ability to upscale standard dynamic range content. Sony also says that the phone supports Dolby Atmos. Interestingly, it has a 21:9 aspect ratio like the Xperia 1 that launched earlier this year, which suggests that while it might be compact at just 68-mm wide, it’s still going to be relatively tall. The phone comes in four colors, and it’s also compatible with Sony’s DualShock 4 controller.

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  • Thomas Ricker

    Sep 5, 2019

    Thomas Ricker

    Garmin’s new Venu sports watch with OLED display prioritizes gyms over trails

    Garmin’s brand new Venu family of AMOLED sport watches.
    Garmin’s brand new Venu family of AMOLED sport watches.
    Image: Garmin

    After announcing its Fenix 6 flagship GPS multi-sport watch with solar charging last week, Garmin is back with three more wearables for fitness fetishists. Notably, it’s launching a new Venu lineup of GPS watches with OLED displays to better compete with the Apple Watch. Garmin is also updating the outdoorsy Vivoactive and mechanical hybrid Vivomove series of smartwatches. 

    Venu is Garmin’s first GPS watch with a bright, colorful, and detailed 390 x 390 pixel OLED display. Optionally, the display can be set to an always-on mode to function as a proper timepiece. The 43mm Venu is a watch meant to be worn 7/24, designed to alert you to important events while in the office, help you meet your fitness goals in the gym, pay for your groceries on the way home, and then track your sleep at night. It’s basically a more refined version of the full-featured Vivoactive tweaked to better compete with the Apple Watch (and new Fitbit Versa 2) when worn indoors, instead of outdoors where Garmin watches have traditionally thrived.

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  • Thomas Ricker

    Sep 5, 2019

    Thomas Ricker

    These Marvel x Garmin GPS watches for adults are somehow not terrible

    Garmin is following up on its Marvel-themed wearables for kids with two GPS watches for grown-ass adults. The special edition 40mm Captain Marvel watch inspired by Carol Danvers, and the 45mm First Avenger watch styled after Steve Rogers’ vintage 1940s military gear.

    The Garmin + Marvel Legacy Hero watch crossovers could have gone terribly wrong but these feel restrained instead of cartoony, and come loaded with useful features and specs we’ve already seen on the new Vívoactive 4/4S GPS watches. That means 24/7 health monitoring with features like pulse ox sleep tracking to measure the quality of your slumber, menstrual cycle tracking, respiration and hydration tracking, and more. They also feature animated workout instructions, a heart rate sensor, phone notifications, music playback from Spotify, Amazon Music, and Deezer, Garmin Pay contactless payments, and batteries that last for days.

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 5, 2019

    Jon Porter

    Sennheiser’s Momentum Wireless review: feature-packed, if not a sonic standout

    It’s been around four years since Sennheiser last updated its over-ear, noise-canceling Momentum Wireless headphones, and in that time a lot has changed. Voice assistants have become a staple feature in headphones, the industry has moved toward USB-C for charging, and we’ve had countless versions of Bluetooth in the meantime, each bringing more incremental improvements in connectivity and sound quality.

    So the arrival of the third-generation Sennheiser Momentum Wireless headphones (which I’ll refer to as the Momentum 3 from here on) is kind of a big deal in headphone terms. The new headphones are still a premium set of cans at $400 (£349), but they’re full of new features and tech that wouldn’t have been possible four years ago. All these new additions combine to create a feature-packed pair of headphones that are also comfortable to wear, and which look every bit as stylish as Sennheiser’s previous models. The only downside, which I’ll get onto in a second, is that you can find headphones that sound better at this premium price point.

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  • Tom Warren

    Sep 5, 2019

    Tom Warren

    Puma’s first Wear OS smartwatch debuts in November for $275

    Puma is launching its first smartwatch at IFA 2019 this week. The sports brand has teamed up with Fossil Group over the past 12 months to produce the wearable, which is powered by Wear OS and Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset. The Puma smartwatch will include a 1.19-inch round AMOLED display, housed inside a cut-out nylon and aluminum 44mm case. Puma is naturally aiming this smartwatch at sports fans, and it will will be swimproof and lightweight at 0.06 pounds thanks to some cut outs on the side of the device to reduce its weight.

    Puma’s smartwatch will include 4GB of storage and 512MB of RAM, which is the standard on most Wear OS watches. As this has the latest Snapdragon Wear 3100 chipset, Puma is promising more than 24 hours of battery life, but it will likely include the same complicated battery options as the Fossil Carlyle to really get the maximum battery life. As Puma’s smartwatch is powered by Wear OS you’ll get all the usual features like NFC payments, heart rate monitoring, fitness tracking, Google Assistant integration, and more. Puma is also supporting 16mm straps through a single prong strap buckle.

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  • Philips Hue gets Edison-style light bulbs, a smart plug, and updated Hue Go lamp

    Hue Edison bulbs
    Photo: Signify

    A whole bunch of new Philips Hue bulbs and accessories are being announced today, and by far the most eye-catching are the line’s first Edison-style bulbs. These LED smart bulbs appear to have a swirling filament exposed inside their clear glass housing, creating a much more stylish look than a traditional, almost industrial Hue bulb.

    When the Edison-style bulbs are turned off, it’s clear that they’re filled with LEDs and not the real deal. But when they’re switched on and glowing, they have the same vibe as the real thing, and I think they’d work perfectly well as the room accent they’re supposed to be. They get plenty bright, too.

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  • Chaim Gartenberg

    Sep 4, 2019

    Chaim Gartenberg

    Samsung’s new Exynos 980 processor has a 5G modem built in

    Samsung has announced its next in-house processor, the Exynos 980, at IFA 2019. It looks to be taking a big step forward by offering a 5G modem integrated directly into the CPU, instead of requiring a separate modem just to be able to support the next-generation network.

    It’s a small change, but an important one: much like Qualcomm, which is promising to add a 5G modem to its next Snapdragon flagship, Samsung is making 5G support the default option for future phones and tablets that use Exynos chips. It also means that Samsung can save internal space by not needing the extra modem chip, which should also help make 5G use more power-efficient.

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  • Chris Welch

    Sep 4, 2019

    Chris Welch

    The first Amazon Fire TV with an OLED screen and built-in Alexa mics is here

    Up to this point, TVs that come loaded with Amazon’s Fire TV software (or even Roku OS for that matter) have stuck to LCD. But today Amazon has announced that an OLED Fire TV Edition is on the way — just not in the United States, unfortunately. The company has partnered with Grundig to release two versions of an OLED TV: one will have far-field voice microphones built in for hands-free Alexa control and, in case that creeps you out, the other one won’t include the mics. (You'll just get the usual Alexa voice remote where you hold the button down to issue commands.)

    Are we ready for Alexa microphones inside our TVs? We’re still in the midst of controversy over strangers listening to our recordings to improve Alexa’s accuracy. This built-in approach could well be the beginning of a trend for other Fire TV Edition models in the future. There’s a button below the TV for muting the microphones, which are integrated into the speaker beneath the TV. Grundig confirmed to me that the TVs use “last-generation” LG OLED panels with a wide color gamut and support for HDR10 and Dolby Vision.

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  • Dieter Bohn

    Sep 4, 2019

    Dieter Bohn

    Anker is putting Fire TV in a soundbar for the first time

    Amazon and Anker are partnering to put a Fire TV into a soundbar for the first time. The new product is picking up Anker’s Nebula branding, which means that the proper way to refer to this new device is “The Nebula Soundbar — Fire TV Edition.” It’s a $229.99 soundbar that is able to stream 4K Ultra HD video and provides the Fire TV software without the need for another box.

    Packing a streaming box into a soundbar seems like an obvious idea, but it’s not one that’s been tried all that often. JBL did it (after many delays) with Android TV, but beyond that there hasn’t been much until today. Now, in addition to JBL, Roku has launched a soundbar and Amazon is also joining the fray. It is theoretically more convenient than stringing together a separate stick and soundbar if your TV’s built-in apps don’t work.

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  • Dieter Bohn

    Sep 4, 2019

    Dieter Bohn

    Amazon announces new Fire TV Cube with Dolby Vision, HDR10+, and ‘Local Voice Control’

    Amazon is announcing updates to its Fire TV ecosystem today, including a new version of its flagship streaming box, the Fire TV Cube. Although it looks exactly the same, it should operate much more quickly than before. Part of that is the usual bump in processor speed, but a much more important part will be a new feature Amazon is calling “Local Voice Control.”

    Local Voice Control allows the Fire TV Cube to interpret some commands without having to ask a more powerful server to help out. That means those commands should work much more quickly since they won’t need to make the round trip from your box to Amazon’s servers and back again. Amazon claims those commands could execute four times as quickly. At launch, supported commands include “the most frequent voice commands” on the Fire TV Cube, like “scroll right” and “go home.”

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 4, 2019

    Jon Porter

    August arrives in Europe via accessory module for Yale’s smart locks

    The module will allow Yale’s European smart locks (pictured: right) to be compatible with August’s app platform (pictured: center).
    The module will allow Yale’s European smart locks (pictured: right) to be compatible with August’s app platform (pictured: center).
    Image: Yale

    The August smart lock platform is coming to Europe via a new accessory module for sister company Yale’s range of smart locks. We first saw the module released in the US last year for Yale’s Assure smart locks, but now the module is coming to Europe where it will work with Yale’s Keyless, Conexis, Doorman, and Monoblock smart locks. Although it was called the “Connected by August” module in the US, the accessory will be called the “Yale Access Module” in Europe.

    After you plug the module into the battery compartment of your existing Yale smart lock, you’ll get access to August’s full suite of features, including the ability to unlock your door using your phone, manage access to your home, track who’s coming and going, and also verbally lock your door using a voice assistant like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant. August support also means the locks will now integrate with hosting platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway.

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  • Jon Porter

    Sep 4, 2019

    Jon Porter

    Asus takes on Apple’s Pro Display with its new ProArt monitor

    Asus’ ProArt display
    Asus’ ProArt display
    Photo by Jon Porter / The Verge

    Asus has unveiled a new ProArt display, a top-spec monitor that’s designed for professional users. The company claims that the PA32UCG is the world’s first professional 4K display that supports a combination of a maximum brightness of 1600 nits and a 120Hz variable refresh rate. These specs, alongside a variety of HDR support, put the display into direct competition with Apple, which announced its own display for professional users, the Pro Display XDR, earlier this year. 

    In terms of its specs, the Asus display compares well to Apple’s, although they both have different strengths. Both are 32 inches in size and have a maximum peak brightness of 1600 nits, but Apple’s display has a higher resolution at 6K compared to 4K on the Asus model. However, the ProArt PA32UCG has a higher refresh rate: while Apple’s Pro Display XDR tops out at 60Hz, Asus’ model goes all the way up to 120Hz, and it’s equipped with variable refresh rate technology that can scale between 48Hz and 120Hz. 

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