Samsung's ViewFinity S9, announced at CES 2023 in January, will soon be available as a challenge to the Apple Studio Display. Ostensibly competing against Apple and LG monitors, the ViewFinity S9 is compatible with both Mac and PC.

According to Samsung, this 27-inch 5K (5,120 x 2,880) monitor is more than 50% larger than other UHD monitors. According to the company, the display covers 99% of the DCI-P3 color gamut and has an impressive 218 PPI (pixels per inch), another impressive statistic.

According to Samsung, the ViewFinity S9 offers saturated, vibrant colors and more vivid detail. As for brightness, the screen is claimed to be capable of achieving HDR brightness of 600 nits. Of course, to see if this claim is true, the monitor would need to be taken to a test lab.

The monitor employs a smart calibration feature that can be controlled with a smartphone. This allows the screen to be calibrated without the need for expensive calibration equipment.

Using Samsung's SmartThings app, the monitor can be calibrated in basic mode for quick and easy adjustments, or in professional mode for full control of all functions. In other words, you can get the image exactly the way you want it, which is perfect for the creators for whom this monitor is intended.

As for connectivity, the ViewFinity S9 has one Thunderbolt 4, one miniDP, and one USB-C port. This may seem like a poor choice, but for the creators for whom this monitor is sold, these three ports should be sufficient; the S9 also has a built-in 4K webcam.

Like some of the best Samsung TVs these days, the ViewFinity S9 features the company's Smart TV and gaming hub, both of which utilize Samsung's Tizen platform. The former offers all the major streaming apps and plenty of free content for Samsung TV Plus. The gaming hub has streaming apps such as Xbox Game Pass, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Amazon Luna. Even if you don't have a gaming console or gaming PC, you can play games on this monitor right out of the box.

If you're a professional photo or video editor, the Samsung ViewFinity S9 seems like the perfect display to bring your creative work to life; at $1,599, it's certainly expensive, but the same price as the Apple Studio Display.

Stay tuned for more information on the Samsung ViewFinity S9.