William Gallagher
New supply chain reports back up previous claims that the iPad Pro will be Apple's first device to use a mini LED display, and that it will launch in the first quarter of 2021.
Following previous rumors, and then subsequent reported delays, Apple again appears to be on course to release its first iPad Pro with a mini LED display.
At one point, Apple was expected to release an iPad Pro with mini LED before the end of 2020. Now, according to Digitimes, the launch was delayed by the impact of the coronavirus, rather than any technical issues.
Fan Chin-yung, president of display manufacturer Epistar, has reportedly said that the coronavirus has meant delays in getting devices approved.
"Large-volume shipments for mini LED chips will be deferred from the end of 2020 as originally scheduled," he said, "to the second or third quarter of 2021 due to delay in product certification."
Nonetheless, he also said that "shipments for mini LED chips will begin to contribute to consolidated revenues in first-quarter 2021."
Based on that and unspecified other industry sources, Digitimes concludes that Apple is expected to launch a 12.9-inch mini LED-backlit iPad Pro, possibly in first-quarter 2021.
Digitimes has an excellent track record with sources within the supply chain, though a much poorer one at extrapolating Apple's plans. This latest report does, however, fit with multiple previous ones that expect an iPad Pro with mini LED to launch in the first quarter of 2021.
Mini LED brings improved color reproduction and contrast ratios. It's also a more power-efficient form of backlighting.
Christine McKee
AppleInsider Staff
Chip Loder
Malcolm Owen
20 Comments
So just to be clear, this is mini-LED which is just a backlighting method, and not micro-LED right? Not sure what the iPad Pro uses right now, but it’s pretty impressive. I have lost track of what devices use LCD vs OLED tech.
I have high hopes that micro-LED will give us all the best of both worlds. The contrast and color of OLED and the no burn-in of LCD. Here is to hoping anyway.
If it does turn out to be mini-LED, it will be interesting to see how many individual mini-LEDs Apple packs into the display. There isn't really a standard size for an individual mini-LED, so there's a fairly wide range of numbers that are possible relative to iPad Pro screen sizes.
Waiting, waiting, waiting...
iPad Pro with miniLED and 8 GB of RAM are my minimum requirements to replace my 2017 iPad Pro 10.5. Would be cool if Apple offered a 16 GB RAM option. Also cool if they turned on the page file in iPadOS, among other things.