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12.9-Inch iPad Pro With Mini-LED Display Rumored to Launch in First Quarter of 2021

007p said:
It makes me think it isn’t going to be your typical iPad Pro.

The 12.9” iPad Pro initially launched on its own for the new ‘pro’ line up. I don’t see Apple simply releasing just a 12.9” iPad Pro with the only difference being the screen.

I’m sure the rumours are just ‘wrong’ and there will be both 11” and 12.9”, but I’m always hopeful for the ‘next phase’ of the iPad to start.
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That’s fair— the rumors could be wrong.

I just bought a 2020 11” Pro and the only thing that could make me upgrade next year is killer screen tech and a 11.7” display, which would be perfect.
 
ericwn said:
Not sure we can conclude which iPad models are more or less popular outside of our own likings - the sales numbers are not really published anywhere.
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Purely anecdotal. The 11” Pro always seems to sell out first from stores such as B&H, Tiger Direct. I had to wait two weeks for mine this December which is unusual for an Apple product that is 10 months old.
 
cmaier said:
Why not a M1? I think that’s more likely than an A14x.
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If you look at the M1 and what an A14x would be, there isn’t going to be a huge difference. Each is based on the same architecture. There will be some differences around what support chips are used and how the CPU and GPU cores are balanced, but the bones will be very similar.
 
MacRumors said:
Looking beyond the next-generation iPad Pro, there have been a couple of reports claiming that Apple is looking to transition the line to OLED display technology, although it seems unlikely for Apple to only briefly shift to Mini-LED before transitioning again to OLED. One rumor claimed the OLED iPad Pro will launch in the second half of 2021, but a more recent report claims the change is unlikely to happen until 2022 at the earliest.
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These rumors are confusing, but I have a theory...

What if we are getting both of these iPads?

Q1 2021
Mini-Led iPad Pro 12.9

Q3 2021 (second half of 2021)
OLED iPad Pro 15”
*same chassis size as gen 1 iPad Pro but screen size increased.**

If they get rid of the 11” cause of the iPad Air, I can see this differentiating the Pro models more.

It’s just a theory. Does this make sense? 🤷🏽‍♂️🤷🏽‍♂️
 
ericwn said:
Doubt students are the target audience and paper sizes differ worldwide as do exam formats.
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In my university almost everyone in Engineering use either the iPad Pro 12.9 or the Surface Book 2 to take notes and complete assignments and exams.

In North America, exams are usually printed in Legal size, and normal assignments and notes are in Letter size. Around the world, exams are in A3, and letters and notes are in A4. Since A standards are bigger than US standards, people around the world would prefer an even bigger iPad Pro.

Also, private schools use iPad Pro 12.9 as well. Public schools in wealthy neighborhoods also may use iPad Pro as standard.
 
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PickUrPoison said:
I’m not sure the 11” Pro is all that popular, let alone far too popular to drop, though you may well be right. Maybe it’s not getting the miniLED display so there’s just no chatter. It could be a simple refresh of the 2020 with a new SoC.

But now that the Air is much closer to the Pro, I wouldn’t be all that surprised if they did drop the 11” Pro. I guess the question is whether there’s room for both in the lineup.

At 256GB it’s $749 vs. $899 for the Air vs the Pro; that’s really not much price difference. The difference in features is also minimal (but rather nice!).

It would definitely disappoint some 11” iPad Pro users who want a new one if it were discontinued, but a fair percentage would buy the Air; that’s already happening. Others will move up to the 12.9” to keep the feature set.
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I believe there’s room in the lineup based on design professionals and others who prefer a more portable size. 12.9” is too big for a lot of people, unless they can make it more or less bezel-less like the iphones (iPads with notches, anyone?). Then again, they may refresh the Air with ProMotion at some point to provide an option for those who want all the pro drawing, design features. My best guess is that they’ll keep the 11” around but it won’t get mini-LED; or the rumors are just overlooking the 11.
 
jb1280 said:
I think this is the correct thinking. They’ll add a variant on top of the $999 version with the miniLED technology. Perhaps they ship it with a SOC marketed as A14Z, which has additional GPU cores and perhaps additional memory
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Yeah 100% they won’t just ditch the 11 inch especially with the Magic Keyboard situation... as ditching the 11 pro will leave just the iPad Air compatible with the 11 Inch Magic Keyboard which will be weird as the camera cut out isn’t designed just for the air.
 
Precursor said:
As someone who purchased the 11" iPP and got rid of it to purchase a 12.9" after one week I can say that 11" felt like a toy, I had to pinch to zoom a lot, it had weird screen ratio compared to rest of ipad family. There is nothing 11" was better at compared to the 12.9" except the portability, though for that one should better buy a mini or an air.
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You’re such a child.

Down voting my comments, some of which had nothing to do with what your problem with the iPad Pro 11 inch is just because I downvoted you🤪
 
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jlc1978 said:
Possibly, but my guess is A12Z's were used to allow developers early access while M1 production ramped up; given both used ARM architecture Apple could get Big Sur working on the A series relatively easily and run fast enough for development as a stop gap to help ensure software was avaiable at the launch.

Looking at the specs for both the M1 appears to be a different design than just a rebranded A chip. That doesn't mean there won't be some convergence in the future. A lot depends on Apple's vision fo rteh future of computing and for iPadOS and Mac OS.
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It helps to use and maximize a chips use-case. Economies of scale work for Apple when it can use a CPU on as many devices as it can. Even Apple cannot scale to Intel chip levels and variations right now. And it don’t think wants to. It doesn’t need to. So it would make a whole lot of sense for Apple to just use the M1 on the iPad Pro, The MacBook Air, and the base MacBook Pro and not waste money making yet another low volume chip just for it.
Besides, the iPad Pro needs to keep moving forward with Pro Apps from the Mac for people to stick with it and pay a premium for it.
 
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Precursor said:
As someone who purchased the 11" iPP and got rid of it to purchase a 12.9" after one week I can say that 11" felt like a toy, I had to pinch to zoom a lot, it had weird screen ratio compared to rest of ipad family. There is nothing 11" was better at compared to the 12.9" except the portability, though for that one should better buy a mini or an air.
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If anything I would say the 12.9 has a weird screen ratio, it looks very tall and has HUUUUUGE black bars when watching videos...

I think the 11” is perfect, I originally went with the 12.9” as I wanted to switch from using a MacBook/iPad combination to just using an iPad...

At first the 12.9” seemed great the screen real estate is fantastic, but it’s only great if you plan to use it 90% of the time at a desk, if you want to use it as an iPad it’s not a good experience and is far too big. For me the 12.9 felt like I had just changed from an iPad/MacBook combo to a limited MacBook and lost my iPad completely.

With the 11” it gives me more of the best of both worlds feeling, I have a super portable (but limiting) laptop as well as a comfortable iPad when I want to use it as such.

However, as I have said before it is all personal preference and what your use case is... I really hope that Apple one day bring a 12” model to the table as that would be the perfect size for me personally.
 
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James Godfrey said:
I think the 11” is perfect, I originally went with the 12.9” as I wanted to switch from using a MacBook/iPad combination to just using an iPad...

At first the 12.9” seemed great the screen real estate is fantastic, but it’s only great if you plan to use it 90% of the time at a desk, if you want to use it as an iPad it’s not a good experience and is far too big. For me the 12.9 felt like I had just changed from an iPad/MacBook combo to a limited MacBook and lost my iPad completely.

With the 11” it gives me more of the best of both worlds feeling, I have a super portable (but limiting) laptop as well as a comfortable iPad when I want to use it as such.

However, as I have said before it is all personal preference and what your use case is... I really hope that Apple one day bring a 12” model to the table as that would be the perfect size for me personally.
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My other half uses his 12.9 inch for writing calligraphy and either as a second screen using duet display or simply as a second device that compliments his Surface Pro.

I bought the 11 inch because I wanted the smaller form factor, and I really personally love it.

That really is what it boils down to though, isn’t it. Personal preference, as you say. It’s a shame really that some on this forum speak like their word is final, even if it is about something so subjective as a screen size. 😂
 
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AnthonyHarris said:
My other half uses his 12.9 inch for writing calligraphy and either as a second screen using duet display or simply as a second device that compliments his Surface Pro.

I bought the 11 inch because I wanted the smaller form factor, and I really personally love it.

That really is what it boils down to though, isn’t it. Personal preference, as you say. It’s a shame really that some on this forum speak like their word is final, even if it is about something so subjective as a screen size. 😂
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Yeah everyone is different has different needs and preferences, that’s why Apple offer so much choice these days... iPad, iPad Air, iPad Pro... iPhone Mini, iPhone, iPhone Pro and Pro Max etc... they know that everyone has different preferences and releasing a one product to suit all is just not good for business or the consumer.
 
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rp2011 said:
It helps to use and maximize a chips use-case. Economies of scale work for Apple when it can use a CPU on as many devices as it can. Even Apple cannot scale to Intel chip levels and variations right now. And it don’t think wants to. It doesn’t need to.
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Sure; but the question righty now is whether Apple wants to sgeregate the iPad into what would essentially be two seperate model lines by using M1 and AX series chipsets if Apple includes capabilities in an M iPad that are not in the rest. My guess is right now the are focussed on making Macs with the M1 and optimizing it for OS X; and somewhere down the road will introduce M series iPads.

rp2011 said:
So it would make a whole lot of sense for Apple to just use the M1 on the iPad Pro, The MacBook Air, and the base MacBook Pro and not waste money making yet another low volume chip just for it.
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There are other cost considerations as well - the M uses more expensive memory, for example, and even if they produce more M chips they may not be cheaper than a next generation AX chip at this point in time. The marginal savings from higher M production may not offset other costs to make it worthwhile.

rp2011 said:
Besides, the iPad Pro needs to keep moving forward with Pro Apps from the Mac for people to stick with it and pay a premium for it.
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Sure, and I don't doubt we'll see more convergence between Macs and iPads in the future.

Right now, what benefits are there from an M1 over a new AX chip? Faster? Sure, but how many users will benefit from a faster iPad and buy the high end version?
 
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