Kuo: 12.9-Inch iPad Pro and 16-Inch MacBook Pro With Mini-LED Displays to Launch in Second Half of 2020

[anshuvorty]

So, could this be the reason why Apple hasn't implemented HDR into their laptop displays? Is it because Mini/MicroLED will significantly reduce the cost to implement HDR compared to OLED?

 

[dominiongamma]

But I just bought the new 16" MBP...!

You knew a new one would come out

 

[ghanwani]

Is this going to have the PWM issue?

 

[opeter]

Late 2020. Whatever made you think that after you bought your mbp that Apple would suddenly stop doing a yearly release?

Yeah, he thinks it is the same as with the Mac Pro and Mac mini (4-5 Years update cycle).

 

[jlocker]

But I just bought the new 16" MBP...!

You will most likely not see a 16in MacBook Pro with microLED technology for 3 to 4 years, so you are safe for a while.

 

[stockseer]

I am really looking forward to the 2020 iPhones as it is sounding like there will be numerous, significant improvements. Is there anything in particular your wife is expecting in Studio 4 headphones? I love my Studio 3 headphones and I really can't think of anything they are lacking. I'm not an audiophile so the current quality of sound is good enough for me (for my use case, I doubt I would even notice if the sound quality was improved). The ANC works well and the battery life is great. Just wondering what she is expecting in the next version.

Simple: USB-C support and new processor allowing transparency by touching one side; similar to AirPod Pro or the Sony XM-3.

 

[delta0]

New iPad is coming at start of 2020. I don’t see 2 releases For the same device in a year.

 

[reallynotnick]

Kuo has also previously said that future iPad and MacBook displays will each use approximately 10,000 LEDs, compared to 576 in Apple's upcoming Pro Display XDR. Each LED would be below 200 microns in size.

It's worth noting that even if they have 10,000 LEDs it is unlikely that they will all be individually addressable and instead grouped in zones of like 16 or 25 LEDs.

 

[mdorais]

I think this may be one of those times where Kuo's a little bit trigger-happy. I could see this not coming until late 2020 or first half 2021.

 

[MauiPa]

Would Mini-LED up the resolution of the 16" or just update the brightness and contrast?

So the current MBP 16 is almost 4k (3072‑by‑1920), and given my retina MacBook Pro 15 at 1920-by1200 is too small for me to see , are you advocating that even teeny-tinier is better? Would it even be noticeable? Is the law of diminishing returns in effect here?

Not criticizing, just trying to understand if this is deemed as a benefit

 

[littyboy]

Are ipad pros even OLED? Seems a stretch to be putting mLED before OLED and not even utilizing OLED for many years before that.

 

[Falhófnir]

Well, I've got a year to get my wallet ready for a big double hit, then xD

 

[MauiPa]

Can't wait for all the posts about how mini LED is going to solve all the LCD and OLED problems only to find in a year that mini LED has a bunch of problems of its own

Yah, where is technology perfected? it seems every single bit of technology has some limitations, what is wrong with engineers anyway?

 

[Billyk711]

I was hoping for iPad Pro update to be within the first half of 2020.

Kuo said we were getting new iPad pros, in October, kuo is wrong way more than he is correct, pretty sure financial analysts don’t listen to him anymore since he is always way off with projected sales, most of the time he isn’t even close.
People call him a Well respected Apple analysts, since he lost his contact he hasn’t gotten anything correct.

 

[RogerWilco]

Would Mini-LED up the resolution of the 16" or just update the brightness and contrast?

Mini-LEDs are just the back light, the screen is still LCD, presumably at the same resolution.

The LEDs would be in a 100 x 100 array. If one of them stopped working it might be very annoying -- like having a key on a back-lit keyboard go dark.

 

[Falhófnir]

Kuo said we were getting new iPad pros, in October, kuo is wrong way more than he is correct, pretty sure financial analysts don’t listen to him anymore since he is always way off with projected sales, most of the time he isn’t even close.
People call him a Well respected Apple analysts, since he lost his contact he hasn’t gotten anything correct.

I mean, we've just had the 16" MacBook Pro that he promised as early as February, and he was even right on timeframe, which is where he can be a little hit and miss.

 

[littyboy]

So, could this be the reason why Apple hasn't implemented HDR into their laptop displays? Is it because Mini/MicroLED will significantly reduce the cost to implement HDR compared to OLED?

mLED is more expensive than OLED. Why would that reduce cost?

 

[deconstruct60]

Kuo is usually pretty on point but this seems unlikely, especially for the 16" Pro. I personally feel Apple will update the 16" in Q3 with 10th gen CPUs and WiFi 6.

Intel roadmaps don't have anything in the 10nm space for the H class ( > 4 core ) CPUs in most of 2020. There is a Comet Lake H that is suppose to bring 10 cores to the same TDP space using 14nm , but that is probably a bit of hand waving for Intel. ( 10th gen has a mix of 10nm and 14nm parts in it).

There is probably not a huge leap between what Apple is shipping now and the Comet Lake versions when still at the 6-8 core range. Not enough for Apple to dramatically cut short this initial MBP 16" run. Apple probably wants to run this initial run about 4 quarters ( unless there is a major problem). If there was a dramatically better AMD solution maybe. But Intel is basically selling a warmed over versions of what the 16" has now.

I suspect Apple is behind the eight ball on WiFi 6 because they are probably dead set on not using Intel's ( for their own reasons). So that too probably isn't short range update cycle. Q3 2020 isn't forever. ( that could be July 2020).

The mini-LED tech just seems too far off but who knows, Apple can be unpredictable sometime

Micro-LED is far out. mini-LED is pragmatically about what have now with more local dimming zones ( and higher official HDR qualification label. ). ( smaller lights means can have more independent ones/groups ) Those are shipping now. By Q3 2020 it won't be bleeding edge tech. It will be a relatively incremental upgrade. ( for many non-bleeding edge video app workloads it won't be radically different. )

 

[RationalFanboy]

Technically they could release a miniLED iPad next year, but no way it’ll be at the same price points.

My guess is updated 11” and 12,9” iPad Pro in spring, new 12,9” iPad Pro Pro at higher price point in fall.

 

[redheeler]

So the current MBP 16 is almost 4k (3072‑by‑1920), and given my retina MacBook Pro 15 at 1920-by1200 is too small for me to see , are you advocating that even teeny-tinier is better? Would it even be noticeable? Is the law of diminishing returns in effect here?

Not criticizing, just trying to understand if this is deemed as a benefit

3072x1920 is not close to 4K, which with the MBP's aspect ratio would be 3840x2400. That is only 64% the pixel count of 4K, or 71% if we're comparing it to the PC laptops that use the 16:9 aspect ratio (3840x2160).

I started a thread discussing the benefits of a higher PPI here. If you're concerned about the size of elements on the screen in 4K resolution, 3584x2240 would still make more sense than current 3072x1920.

 

[BenLeong]

We need a list of all the times Kuo has been wrong.

 

[jlocker]

I mean, we've just had the 16" MacBook Pro that he promised as early as February, and he was even right on timeframe, which is where he can be a little hit and miss.

The cost of micro led technology is still expensive so to put it in a 16in screen is going to cost more than a LCD screen ATM. I think Apple will use them but they will start with iPads and lower end macbook's to test out the technology and keep the cost lower on the laptops.

 

[Falhófnir]

The cost of micro led technology is still expensive so to put it in a 16in screen is going to cost more than a LCD screen ATM. I think Apple will use them but they will start with iPads and lower end macbook's to test out the technology and keep the cost lower on the laptops.

If it's an expensive technology, it makes sense to start it on the most expensive devices first, but also to use it on as many devices as economically possible as quickly as possible to benefit from economy of scale and quickly amortise R&D costs. Having said that, this isn't micro-LED, but mini-LED (basically a fancy backlight to help a regular LCD panel achieve HDR black levels by dynamically dimming behind black areas) so I don't think it's likely to be astronomically expensive, unlike actual micro-LED.

 

[Traverse]

But what about the 11”? I prefer that size. Sad if the larger variant starts getting more defining features.

 

[jlocker]

If it's an expensive technology, it makes sense to start it on the most expensive devices first, but also to use it on as many devices as economically possible as quickly as possible to benefit from economy of scale and quickly amortise R&D costs. Having said that, this isn't micro-LED, but mini-LED (basically a fancy backlight to help a regular LCD panel achieve HDR black levels by dynamically dimming behind black areas) so I don't think it's likely to be astronomically expensive, unlike actual micro-LED.

Good point, I miss read the article , I was thinking it was the new micro-LED. So I can see mini-LED coming next year to make the contrast better and HDR technology Thanks for correcting me