I think there's consensus that the Pro Display XDR is a true 10-bit panel. In other words, in theory, it does not perform temporal dithering/FRC (Frame Rate Control) on the image.
With that in mind, if you look at the marketing for the M3 MBPs, it mentions the following:
XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range)
- 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio
- XDR brightness: 1000 nits sustained full-screen, 1600 nits peak (HDR content only)
- SDR brightness: 600 nits
Color
- 1 billion colors
- Wide color (P3)
- True Tone technology
Refresh rates
- ProMotion technology for adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz
- Fixed refresh rates: 47.95Hz, 48.00Hz, 50.00Hz, 59.94Hz, 60.00Hz
These are all identical or better than the specs mentioned in Pro Display XDR White Paper, which makes a point of mentioning "true 10-bit color" multiple times, but "true 10-bit" never appears on the M3 MBP page.
Does this mean they use the same tech and suppliers/production for these panels? Are they both true 10-bit panels?
I've proven in a separate effort that Apple silicon Macs perform temporal dithering on the pixel buffer before it gets sent to the internal and external displays regardless of the output or the panel's advertised bit depth. This GPU/DCP dithering can be disabled from user space. But now the question is whether the panel's TCON performs an additional layer of temporal dithering, and if that's true, then why do that on true 10-bit panels?
With that in mind, if you look at the marketing for the M3 MBPs, it mentions the following:
XDR (Extreme Dynamic Range)
- 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio
- XDR brightness: 1000 nits sustained full-screen, 1600 nits peak (HDR content only)
- SDR brightness: 600 nits
Color
- 1 billion colors
- Wide color (P3)
- True Tone technology
Refresh rates
- ProMotion technology for adaptive refresh rates up to 120Hz
- Fixed refresh rates: 47.95Hz, 48.00Hz, 50.00Hz, 59.94Hz, 60.00Hz
These are all identical or better than the specs mentioned in Pro Display XDR White Paper, which makes a point of mentioning "true 10-bit color" multiple times, but "true 10-bit" never appears on the M3 MBP page.
Does this mean they use the same tech and suppliers/production for these panels? Are they both true 10-bit panels?
I've proven in a separate effort that Apple silicon Macs perform temporal dithering on the pixel buffer before it gets sent to the internal and external displays regardless of the output or the panel's advertised bit depth. This GPU/DCP dithering can be disabled from user space. But now the question is whether the panel's TCON performs an additional layer of temporal dithering, and if that's true, then why do that on true 10-bit panels?
