Waters Sets a New Benchmark for Robustness and Sensitivity for High-Throughput Labs with the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer

Rhea-AI Summary

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) has launched the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer, its most advanced benchtop tandem quadrupole system. The new device delivers up to 6x increase in performance robustness compared to the Xevo TQ Absolute, while offering superior sensitivity for pharmaceutical quantitation and PFAS detection. Key features include 50% reduced power and nitrogen gas consumption, 50% less heat production, and 50% smaller bench space footprint compared to competitors. The system incorporates the innovative StepWave XR Ion Guide technology, designed to minimize downtime while maintaining high sensitivity for complex samples. The product has demonstrated impressive performance at Synexa Life Sciences, handling over 20,000 continuous injections of human plasma samples with enhanced reproducibility and accuracy.

Positive

• Up to 6x increase in performance robustness compared to previous model
• 50% reduction in power consumption, gas usage, and bench space requirements
• Enhanced operational efficiency with minimized downtime
• Proven reliability with over 20,000 continuous sample injections
• Superior sensitivity for PFAS detection and pharmaceutical quantitation
• Reduced environmental footprint while maintaining high performance

Negative

• None.

Insights

Scientific Instrumentation Analyst

Waters' new mass spectrometer offers significant performance improvements with reduced operational costs, strengthening market position in high-value analytical testing.

Waters Corporation has launched the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer, a significant advancement in their analytical instrumentation lineup that delivers compelling operational and performance benefits. The system builds upon their already industry-leading Xevo TQ Absolute with up to 600% greater performance robustness through the innovative StepWave XR Ion Guide technology.

The key differentiator is the balance of enhanced sensitivity with improved contamination resistance - a critical combination for high-throughput laboratories. This directly addresses two major pain points: unplanned downtime and detection limitations for challenging analyses like PFAS testing and pharmaceutical quantitation.

From an operational efficiency perspective, the system offers up to 50% reductions in power consumption, nitrogen gas usage, heat production, and physical footprint compared to competing high-performance tandem quadrupoles. These efficiency gains translate to meaningful cost savings for laboratories while also supporting sustainability initiatives.

The third-party validation from Synexa Life Sciences - reporting over 20,000 continuous injections of complex biological samples with consistent performance - provides credibility to Waters' claims of exceptional robustness. For pharmaceutical companies, contract testing organizations, and government laboratories facing increased regulatory demands and testing complexity, this combination of sensitivity, reliability, and efficiency directly impacts operational capacity and capabilities.

This product strengthens Waters' competitive position in the high-value analytical testing market, particularly for applications with growing demand like PFAS detection amid evolving environmental regulations and pharmaceutical bioanalysis for complex drug development.

News Summary

• Up to six-fold increase in performance robustness with StepWave™ XR Ion Guide versus Xevo TQ Absolute.¹
• Uses up to 50% less power and gas, and occupies up to 50% less bench space than other products in its class.²
• Takes the industry-leading sensitivity of Xevo TQ Absolute to new heights, including for PFAS detection and pharma quantitation applications.

BALTIMORE and MILFORD, Mass., June 2, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- 73^rd ASMS Conference on Mass Spectrometry and Allied Topics – Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) today announced the launch of the Xevo™ TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer, the Company's most sensitive, robust, and reliable benchtop tandem quadrupole. Notably, the product exceeds the performance capabilities of the Xevo TQ Absolute, which itself set the benchmark in the industry for tandem quadrupole sensitivity, particularly in areas such as pharmaceutical quantitation and PFAS detection. Tailored for high-throughput applications in pharmaceutical companies, contract testing organizations, and government laboratories, the new system is designed to deliver exceptional performance for the most sensitive trace-level analyses in complex matrices, while maximizing system uptime and efficiency.

The Xevo TQ Absolute XR design delivers up to a six-fold increase in performance robustness with unmatched sensitivity.

"Analytical laboratories are under pressure to adapt to the complex needs of pharmaceutical organizations, and meet the increasing demand for PFAS testing driven by a rapidly evolving regulatory landscape," said James Hallam, Vice President, Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry, Waters Corporation. "The Xevo TQ Absolute XR design delivers up to a six-fold increase in performance robustness with unmatched sensitivity and resilience to contamination, significantly reducing downtime and enhancing operational efficiency for our customers."

Built on the trusted, intuitive design of the Xevo TQ Absolute Mass Spectrometer, the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer offers significant operational efficiencies. It uses up to 50% less power and nitrogen gas, produces 50% less heat than any other high-performing tandem or triple quadrupole on the market, and takes up to 50% less bench space, making it the ideal system for laboratories striving to reduce their environmental footprint without compromising throughput or performance.

Within the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer, Waters introduces the StepWave XR Ion Guide, which incorporates sophisticated technology designed to minimize the risk of unplanned downtime, while preserving high sensitivity and precision for even the most complex sample types and fragile compounds. Through this innovation, customers are realizing a new benchmark of robustness across a wide range of applications, including PFAS, bioanalysis, and genotoxic impurity testing.

"Our laboratory requires instrumentation that delivers high-quality, interruption-free results to our customers, helping them to bring safe and effective new drugs to market with confidence and speed," said Sally Hannam, Scientific Director, Synexa Life Sciences, a leading biomarker and bioanalytical services provider. "We are well in excess of 20,000 injections of crashed human plasma continuously analyzed on the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer combined with the ACQUITY™ Premier UPLC™ System and waters_connect™ Software, and our early experience is that it demonstrates new levels of reproducibility and accuracy, giving us ever more confidence as we are presented with increasingly challenging bioanalysis applications and new modalities."

In addition, the design of the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer delivers industry-leading, out-of-the-box quantitation of negatively ionizing compounds, such as PFAS. Bioanalytical, food safety, and environmental testing laboratories will benefit from the high confidence results and operational efficiency gains that the Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer delivers.

The Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer is available to order now.

Additional Resources

• Product Page 

Waters, StepWave, ACQUITY, UPLC, waters_connect, and Xevo are trademarks of Waters Technologies Corporation.

ABOUT:

Waters Corporation (NYSE:WAT) is a global leader in analytical instruments, separations technologies, and software, serving the life, materials, food, and environmental sciences for over 65 years. Our Company helps ensure the efficacy of medicines, the safety of food and the purity of water, and the quality and sustainability of products used every day. In over 100 countries, our 7,600+ passionate employees collaborate with customers in laboratories, manufacturing sites, and hospitals to accelerate the benefits of pioneering science.

Contact:

Molly Gluck
Head of External Communications
Waters Corporation
molly_gluck@waters.com
Mobile: +1.617.833.8166

1. Application Note on Product Webpage. In a well-controlled experiment, performance was maintained for up to six times the duration on the Xevo TQ Absolute XR compared to the Xevo TQ Absolute; more than 12,000 samples of pesticides in fish feed matrix were analyzed.
2. Based on a comparison of high-end tandem and triple quadrupole instruments available on the market. [Infographic]

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SOURCE Waters Corporation

FAQ

What are the key features of Waters' new Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer?

The key features include 6x increased performance robustness, 50% reduced power and gas consumption, 50% smaller bench space footprint, and enhanced sensitivity for PFAS detection and pharmaceutical quantitation

How does the WAT Xevo TQ Absolute XR improve operational efficiency?

It uses 50% less power and nitrogen gas, produces 50% less heat, and features the StepWave XR Ion Guide technology that minimizes unplanned downtime while maintaining high sensitivity

What is the real-world performance of Waters' Xevo TQ Absolute XR?

At Synexa Life Sciences, the system has successfully processed over 20,000 continuous injections of human plasma samples with improved reproducibility and accuracy

What applications is the Waters Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer designed for?

It's designed for high-throughput applications in pharmaceutical companies, contract testing organizations, and government laboratories, particularly for PFAS testing, bioanalysis, and genotoxic impurity testing

When will the Waters Xevo TQ Absolute XR Mass Spectrometer be available?

The system is available to order now