Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Pro Display XDR no longer switching to HDR

Comfortably Numb

Comfortably Numb

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 31, 2024
98
334
Hi,

I have an Apple Pro Display XDR here that is set to the P3-1600 nits profile. This profile always used to play back HDR content without a hinch. I recently updated to macOS 26.1 (maybe it happened with 26.0 as well) and it no longer switches into "HDR mode" when HDR content is played back. The screen stays "SDR-dim".

For example, Youtube is clearly detecting a HDR display and switches to the HDR version of a video, but the screen doesn't follow along. Same problem in the Apple TV app, when I start playing back Dolby Vision or HDR content.

Since this has always worked flawlessly in the past, I am suspecting it's macOS.

Anyone else with this display seeing this? Or maybe on Macbook Pros with high-nit XDR displays set to the same preset?
 
Have you reached out to Apple Support?
What troubleshooting steps did they recommend?
 
No, I have not. I wanted to see if others have this issue, too.
 
Last edited:
I too face the same issue in both ipad and mac after ipados 26/ Macos 26 update. I have been following this issue with apple for weeks now. Still no resolution. It’s worse when an update has more issues than fix.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Comfortably Numb
Oh good, means I am not crazy. What has Apple said so far? Do you have a case ID? I would open my own case and reference yours.
 
My case id is 102695109451. This issue occurs with all apple devices that was upgraded to “26” update. I think it will be better if all of us raise our concern to apple. Most of the users don’t use their device for media streaming and hence this problem goes unnoticed. If many users complained about the same, apple will resolve this issue.
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: _Mitchan1999, Alameda and Comfortably Numb
Apple is not accepting the fact that they have entirely broken Dolby vision hdr on all of their devices with the respective 26 update. I went to an apple store to check the latest m5 iPad Pro tandem oled and that too have this issue. Irony is there are very very limited complaints on this particular issue and I seriously don’t understand why was that? Until apple realises this serious issue we can’t be provided with any solution.
 
It's not just DolbyVision. It's also plain vanilla HDR that's affected (at least in my case).

Maybe I'll install a current beta of macOS to see if that addresses the issue.
 
Comfortably Numb said:
It's not just DolbyVision. It's also plain vanilla HDR that's affected (at least in my case).

Maybe I'll install a current beta of macOS to see if that addresses the issue.
Click to expand...
Exactly. All form of HDR are affected and dolby vision is the most as it appears some one filmed the video in pitch dark with just a candle light. Only if the developers acknowledge this issue they can fix it.
 
17 Pro? The iPhone? It’s a Thunderbolt monitor not supported by other devices. You can plug other devices in but the results are meaningless as Apple never claimed compatibility in the first place.
 
Pick any "real" HDR content on Youtube, like these, in Chrome:


None of them "trigger" HDR output on my display (even though Youtube correctly identifies my display as HDR capable and streams the HDR version of the videos).

Or, if you have, open Lightroom and toggle the HDR button on any brightly lit or over-exposed photos. This doesn't trigger HDR on my end either.

All of this used to work perfectly fine up until recently.

Disclaimer: YT vids work fine in Safari.

Another good way to test this is to play back HDR/DV content in the Apple TV.app (if you have a subscription)
 
Last edited:
Thank you for highlighting this issue. I have been experiencing this since upgrading to Tahoe 26 too. I have a third party external monitor but it's concerning that HDR is broken even on ipad pro. Ridiculous that they haven't acknowledged this.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Comfortably Numb
3-de-enero said:
Thank you for highlighting this issue. I have been experiencing this since upgrading to Tahoe 26 too. I have a third party external monitor but it's concerning that HDR is broken even on ipad pro. Ridiculous that they haven't acknowledged this.
Click to expand...
Guess what, i initially updated to ipados 26 public beta back on July and found this dolby vision/HDR issue. I thought that might be due to the beta and rolled back to ipados 18. And after stable ipados 26 got released i updated again by hoping that all the issues might be fixed, but unfortunately no. Luckily at that time apple was still signing ipados 18.6 and hence i rolled back immediately. Once i rolled back the dolby vision and HDR10 playyed perfectly. So cleraly it was the OS issue.

Then i was afraid for almost 2 months to update to ipados 26 and finally decided to upgrade once ipados 26.1 released. Tha was the biggest mistake i did and i regret that till date. The worst part is that apple is not even recognising this even after all of my explanations. And to be frank i completely lost hope that apple will fix this. To fix an issue you need to acknowledge first and that is completely missing.

I have been chasing apple support for almost 4 weeks now and still not even a proper acknowledgement from the developers(though the support representative is extremely supportive). Until majority of them report this issue to apple there is no solution to this.
 
Last edited:
It’s not an issue with ipad pro alone. I use mac m2 and that too have this issue after macos 26. My friend just bought an iphone 17 pro max and he also has this issue now. I checked a brand new M5 ipad pro in apple showroom and that too has this same issue. So basically all devices running on their respective “26” updates has this issue.
 
I have opened a case to complain about HDR issue here: 102770522958. I used your case number as reference ananth and they told me a senior advisor had assisted you with an advanced tool? So they set up a callback with me tomorrow to troubleshoot. I don't expect resolution but I'm happy to add my case number to the pile so we can get some eyes on this issue.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back