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

[chucker23n1]

Thanks for the feedback, appreciated. So, do you mean MBP 16 will feature with the Comet Lake-H after May?

I think we’ll see a revision in early Summer, yes. That sounds like too early to have mini-LED, though. So assuming the rumor is true, they’ll either postpone the revision until mini-LED is ready, or we’ll see two revisions this year (which is rare).

 

[ajfahey]

With each year since Steve's death innovation at Apple is becoming more and more irrelevant technically. The solution is for Tim to leave so he can travel full time, which seems to be all that he is good for right now. Best too that he not be the one to select a successor. He doesn't have the insight for it. He lacks technical aptitude and vision, just as Steve lacked administrative aptitude and vision.

 

[EugW]

I think we’ll see a revision in early Summer, yes. That sounds like too early to have mini-LED, though. So assuming the rumor is true, they’ll either postpone the revision until mini-LED is ready, or we’ll see two revisions this year (which is rare).

Personally I don’t expect mini-LED until 2021.

So, maybe a revision this year, and then a mini-LED update a year later in 2021.

 

[Rednow]

I really hope that it isn’t a rumour and that, we will have a refreshed 16” mbp in the Q4 of 2020, with the updates mentioned above.. They better have better camera quality too

Kuo better be right... I don’t think, I can wait for 2-3 years. With that being said, what do you guys think about the rumours being said about the ARM-based MacBook being released in the first half of 2021 would it be a success?

 

[chucker23n1]

I really hope that it isn’t a rumour and that, we will have a refreshed 16” mbp in the Q4 of 2020, with the updates mentioned above.. They better have better camera quality too

Kuo better be right... I don’t think, I can wait for 2-3 years. With that being said, what do you guys think about the rumours being said about the ARM-based MacBook being released in the first half of 2021 would it be a success?

Making the 16-inch MBP among the first ARM Macs makes little sense to me. It was just updated, and it’s a solution in search of a problem (while causing a whole array of new issues).

Now, making the Air ARM? Maybe.

 

[Rednow]

Making the 16-inch MBP among the first ARM Macs makes little sense to me. It was just updated, and it’s a solution in search of a problem (while causing a whole array of new issues).

Now, making the Air ARM? Maybe.

What I really want to know, is if Apple will be adding the 10th Gen Intel CPUs for a MacBook Pro 16” update in 2020?

What could you say about that?

 

[chucker23n1]

What I really want to know, is if Apple will be adding the 10th Gen Intel CPUs for a MacBook Pro 16” update in 2020?

What could you say about that?

We should see Comet Lake-H in Q2, and it'll be branded as "10th gen". However, it won't be a very exciting update:

• it was rumored to go from 6/8 cores to 8/10, but it looks like Intel now announced it'll be 6/8 again, just at higher clock rates
• it may or may not add Wi-Fi 6
• it'll still be 14 nm

 

[Rednow]

We should see Comet Lake-H in Q2, and it'll be branded as "10th gen". However, it won't be a very exciting update:

• it was rumored to go from 6/8 cores to 8/10, but it looks like Intel now announced it'll be 6/8 again, just at higher clock rates
• it may or may not add Wi-Fi 6
• it'll still be 14 nm

Really? Wow that would be a let down, if they don’t have the option of having 8-10 cores. How about the display? Is the mini-LED going to be implemented, do you believe it would as you know better than me.

I really hope, we get 10 cores 😩 and what you say is this for the new mbp 16” ?

What other implementations?
Such as the camera quality being updated

 

[chucker23n1]

Really? Wow that would be a let down, if they don’t have the option of having 8-10 cores. How about the display? Is the mini-LED going to be implemented, do you believe it would as you know better than me.

I don't know anything about that, but if Kuo says "second half", I would trust that. Meaning either:

• Apple either delays the next MacBook Pro revision until then. If "second half" ends up meaning very late in the year, Apple might skip a CPU generation and go straight to Rocket Lake, which we don't know much about yet. But it'll still be 14nm. There won't be a 10nm chip appropriate for the 16-inch this year. (Or, wild card, Apple could go AMD!)
• Apple ships around May, as I said, and the mini-LED version comes in the revision after that next year (meaning Kuo was too optimistic).
• Apple ships two revisions this year. Possible, but Apple typically doesn't update that often.

I really hope, we get 10 cores 😩

If at all, not until very late this year.

and what you say is this for the new mbp 16” ?

This is all for the 16.

The 13 is more interesting. Keep in mind the 16 just got a big set of improvements last year. The 13 hasn't yet.

Apple will almost certainly replace its keyboard. They'll also probably reduce its bezel. And my guess is they'll move it to Comet Lake-U, which would allow Apple to offer six-core CPUs on the 13-inch for the first time, and also allow them to go beyond 16 GB memory. Up to 64, but I'm guessing Apple will only offer up to 32.

What other implementations?
Such as the camera quality being updated

I can't say much about that, but keep in mind the display portion on MacBooks is very thin. There's only about 2mm thickness for the camera module, if they don't want to make the entire thing thicker. Contrast that to the front camera on an iPhone, which is 7mm thick.

So don't expect MacBooks to have anything remotely close to the camera of an iPhone any time soon.

 

[Rednow]

I don't know anything about that, but if Kuo says "second half", I would trust that. Meaning either:

• Apple either delays the next MacBook Pro revision until then. If "second half" ends up meaning very late in the year, Apple might skip a CPU generation and go straight to Rocket Lake, which we don't know much about yet. But it'll still be 14nm. There won't be a 10nm chip appropriate for the 16-inch this year. (Or, wild card, Apple could go AMD!)
• Apple ships around May, as I said, and the mini-LED version comes in the revision after that next year (meaning Kuo was too optimistic).
• Apple ships two revisions this year. Possible, but Apple typically doesn't update that often.

If at all, not until very late this year.



This is all for the 16.

The 13 is more interesting. Keep in mind the 16 just got a big set of improvements last year. The 13 hasn't yet.

Apple will almost certainly replace its keyboard. They'll also probably reduce its bezel. And my guess is they'll move it to Comet Lake-U, which would allow Apple to offer six-core CPUs on the 13-inch for the first time, and also allow them to go beyond 16 GB memory. Up to 64, but I'm guessing Apple will only offer up to 32.



I can't say much about that, but keep in mind the display portion on MacBooks is very thin. There's only about 2mm thickness for the camera module, if they don't want to make the entire thing thicker. Contrast that to the front camera on an iPhone, which is 7mm thick.

So don't expect MacBooks to have anything remotely close to the camera of an iPhone any time soon.

Intel could make the transition to a 7nm process node after rocket lake comes out but it could be pure speculation. Anyways, I’m excited 🤩

Rocket Lake CPUs

Details on Rocket Lake are pretty thin before today's leak. We knew that Rocket Lake is Intel's planned successor to Comet Lake. It'll probably be the last processors that feature the aging 14nm manufacturing process before Intel makes the transition to the new 7nm process node.

 

[Rednow]

I don't know anything about that, but if Kuo says "second half", I would trust that. Meaning either:

• Apple either delays the next MacBook Pro revision until then. If "second half" ends up meaning very late in the year, Apple might skip a CPU generation and go straight to Rocket Lake, which we don't know much about yet. But it'll still be 14nm. There won't be a 10nm chip appropriate for the 16-inch this year. (Or, wild card, Apple could go AMD!)
• Apple ships around May, as I said, and the mini-LED version comes in the revision after that next year (meaning Kuo was too optimistic).
• Apple ships two revisions this year. Possible, but Apple typically doesn't update that often.

If at all, not until very late this year.



This is all for the 16.

The 13 is more interesting. Keep in mind the 16 just got a big set of improvements last year. The 13 hasn't yet.

Apple will almost certainly replace its keyboard. They'll also probably reduce its bezel. And my guess is they'll move it to Comet Lake-U, which would allow Apple to offer six-core CPUs on the 13-inch for the first time, and also allow them to go beyond 16 GB memory. Up to 64, but I'm guessing Apple will only offer up to 32.



I can't say much about that, but keep in mind the display portion on MacBooks is very thin. There's only about 2mm thickness for the camera module, if they don't want to make the entire thing thicker. Contrast that to the front camera on an iPhone, which is 7mm thick.

So don't expect MacBooks to have anything remotely close to the camera of an iPhone any time soon.

Chucker, would moving to AMD CPUs be a better move for Apple instead of Intel CPUs and why could that be?

 

[talhak]

After the recent rumor regarding Apple's transition to their own ARM processors, could we expect the next MacBook Pro 16" will use ARM processors alongside the mini-LED display? A combination of these two improvements would make the MBP 16" even better!

 

[RichHI]

That's MicroLED. MicroLED will solve some of the biggest issues of both technologies. It will be self-emissive like OLED which means insane contrasts and amazing viewing angles, but it will also have peak brightness of LCD and no burn-in issues. It will be a big step forward.

However, that is not coming soon. Mini-LED is something in between. It is, actually, close to standard LED LCD, it's just it has much smaller LED backlights that will allow better contrast than standard LED LCD screens. So, they are still backlight screens, unlike OLED/MicroLED screens.

They are very expensive to make, though, so I'm not sure if that is really coming so soon.

What I am waiting to hear is about longevity. Aside from the slightly dimmer pictures, my major issue with OLED is the longevity of the screens and potential color shifts after a lifetime of extended use. Does Micro LED retains the longer lifecycle fo regular LED's and where does it sit on battery usage. If Micro LED's are self emitting then there should be a benefit here.

 

[PostApple2016BrainWash]

What I am waiting to hear is about longevity. Aside from the slightly dimmer pictures, my major issue with OLED is the longevity of the screens and potential color shifts after a lifetime of extended use. Does Micro LED retains the longer lifecycle fo regular LED's and where does it sit on battery usage. If Micro LED's are self emitting then there should be a benefit here.

The new 16”MBP Mini-LED is on schedule to launch in 2020

 

[RichHI]

The new 16”MBP Mini-LED is on schedule to launch in 2020

Having bought upspec'ed MBP 16" in December, going to be a few years before I buy another MBP. Still highly delighted with it. Ipad is next on the list when Micro LED comes out and then 5G 6.7" Iphone.

 

[chucker23n1]

What I am waiting to hear is about longevity. Aside from the slightly dimmer pictures, my major issue with OLED is the longevity of the screens and potential color shifts after a lifetime of extended use. Does Micro LED retains the longer lifecycle fo regular LED's and where does it sit on battery usage. If Micro LED's are self emitting then there should be a benefit here.

Short answer is no, this won't have OLED's problems.

So, mini-LED is really the same tech your screen already has (a TFT LCD with LED backlighting), except there are many, many more, smaller LEDs as backlight. This helps with contrast and power draw: local LEDs can be dimmed or shut off altogether in order to make a truer black. But it's harder to manufacture.

OLED doesn't have backlighting at all. Like you said, it's self-emitting.

Micro-LED fuses the OLED approach of having the LEDs themselves provide the light with the mini-LED approach of them really being extremely small, but regular LEDs. It, again, shouldn't have the OLED lifespan and color inaccuracy issue.

 

[RichHI]

Short answer is no, this won't have OLED's problems.

So, mini-LED is really the same tech your screen already has (a TFT LCD with LED backlighting), except there are many, many more, smaller LEDs as backlight. This helps with contrast and power draw: local LEDs can be dimmed or shut off altogether in order to make a truer black. But it's harder to manufacture.

OLED doesn't have backlighting at all. Like you said, it's self-emitting.

Micro-LED fuses the OLED approach of having the LEDs themselves provide the light with the mini-LED approach of them really being extremely small, but regular LEDs. It, again, shouldn't have the OLED lifespan and color inaccuracy issue.

All good then. Off to Apple Store in September. Now if only they could make it wireless charging and remove the connector...

 

[The Game 161]

All good then. Off to Apple Store in September. Now if only they could make it wireless charging and remove the connector...

You won’t see micro LED for many years....mini LED maybe next year sometime.

 

[chucker23n1]

All good then. Off to Apple Store in September. Now if only they could make it wireless charging and remove the connector...

I really wouldn't wait to buy a product based on a rumor.

And if it does have mini-LED (it won't have micro-LED just yet), maybe don't buy the first generation of new tech.

 

[prospervic]

Now if only they could make it wireless charging and remove the connector...

That would be a terrible move IMO. Now that Apple has removed the headphone jack, I use the USB-C port with an adapter for music listening. (Which, by the way, has far superior sound than the legacy headphone jack, especially on my Bowers & Wilkins cans.)

Wireless you say? Yeah, I have AirPod Pros (and BeatsX before them). But the connection is far from 100% reliable. I’d say more like 75%, with many times the connection dropping, usually at critical moments, especially on my iPhone 11 Pro. Given this, lightning/USB-C ports are a critical fallback.
Many musicians use the iPad Pro for music production, and the inherent latency of wireless audio makes it a dealbreaker for their work.

Until wireless has the audio fidelity, reliability, as well as transfer speeds of USB-C (which is probably a few years off), Apple needs to leave the damn port right where it is. If anything, they should add a second USB-C port for using peripherals while charging, instead of making us pay $300 - $350 for a keyboard case to get this functionality.