Apple suspends sales of LG's UltraFine 5K monitor over hardware issues

Apple has temporarily stopped sales of LG's UltraFine 5K monitor, due to technical problems associated with a lack of proper shielding from wireless interference.

Over the weekend, Apple retail staff were told to keep the product on display yet not sell any units if people asked, according to a Business Insider source. The site added that it heard the same from a representative at a New York Apple store.

Separately, AppleInsider has confirmed the organized removal from sale of the Thunderbolt 3 display. Sources inside Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company indicated that retail locations are retaining demonstration displays, but not selling any stock on-hand that it may receive that may actually have the shielding fix, nor filling any pending orders until otherwise informed.

The USB-C-based LG UltraFine 4K display remains on sale.

Last month buyers reported glitches if the monitor was placed near certain Wi-Fi routers — LG eventually narrowed the trouble to RF interference, and all new units should have better protection.

By last Thursday, Apple's U.S. shipping times for the UltraFine 5K had stretched to between 5 and 6 weeks, where they remain as of this writing. The company is presumably waiting until fixed units are in stock before resuming regular sales.

The UltraFine 5K costs $974, and was built specifically with the 2016 MacBook Pro in mind, connecting to the laptop through Thunderbolt 3 while offering three USB-C ports of its own.

It also includes features like a webcam and stereo speakers, but most notably a 5120-by-2880 resolution with support for the P3 wide color gamut.

40 Comments

dws-2 22 Years · 277 comments

About 7 years ago

I hope Apple views this as a failed experiment.

I bought mine, and I love the screen, but everything else is problem after problem.

I move the cord at all, and the image cuts out.
The cords attached to the monitor sometimes don't work until I plug and unplug them.
My Macbook Pro randomly shuts down when connecting or disconnecting if I use clamshell mode.
I don't have mine by a router, but that's a future potential problem, too.

macxpress 16 Years · 5913 comments

dws-2 said:

I hope Apple views this as a failed experiment.

I bought mine, and I love the screen, but everything else is problem after problem.

I move the cord at all, and the image cuts out.
The cords attached to the monitor sometimes don't work until I plug and unplug them.
My Macbook Pro randomly shuts down when connecting or disconnecting if I use clamshell mode.
I don't have mine by a router, but that's a future potential problem, too.

Regardless...I still don't see Apple making displays again.

kent909 15 Years · 730 comments

One more reason to show it was a bad idea for Apple to get out of the display business. I had a LG refrigerator that was a piece of crap. It is highly unlikely that I will ever buy a LG product again.

blastdoor 15 Years · 3594 comments

kent909 said:

One more reason to show it was a bad idea for Apple to get out of the display business. I had a LG refrigerator that was a piece of crap. It is highly unlikely that I will ever buy a LG product again.

I strongly agree that it was a bad idea. I doubt they'll reconsider, but we can dream.

btw, I was in BestBuy over the weekend and one of the Macs on display was a Mac Mini attached to a Thunderbolt display. It made me sad that this is the face of the Mac being presented to the wider world. Meanwhile, 20 feet away were Windows PCs. Guess what -- the PCs weren't over 800 days old and attached to a discontinued monitor. Sad, sad, sad.

Rayz2016 8 Years · 6957 comments

Sources inside Apple not authorized to speak on behalf of the company indicated that retail locations are retaining demonstration displays, but not selling any stock on-hand that it may receive that may actually have the shielding fix, nor filling any pending orders until otherwise informed.

While I was reading this sentence, my copy of "Grammar & Style" suddenly burst into flames.