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Refreshes are an OS issue, but more RAM helps, esp. as Apple updates the OS restrictions in later iterations.

My guess is it will have 8 GB RAM.



Yes, it will likely be USB 4 with Thunderbolt, and that is a very big deal.
I wonder if they’ll tier the RAM like they did in 2018. 8GB for the 1TB (or higher?) and 6GB for all lower storage options. I hope they don’t do that but knowing Apple, the 2018 iPad Pros should have all shipped with 6GB of RAM and the 2020 should have been bumped up to 8GB.
 
One huge advantage will be that black should actually look black
Really? I ask that genuinely. Is it still not an LCD panel, just with different backlighting?

I imagine it won't be OLED level black no?
 
The one thing that would make me buy the new iPad instantly is if it had virtualization support, and the ability to run macOS in a VM...That plus higher RAM options.

Being able to run MacOS for Xcode and terminal and anything the iPad can't handle would be amazing.

As it stands a better screen is not going to set this apart from 2018/2020 iPad Pro's IMO.
Based on no real evidence, my gut says iPadOS 15 for the Pros bridges the Mac->iPad gap a bit more and WWDC will introduce Xcode for iPad. You won’t see it introduced or mentioned tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s introduced at WWDC. I mean, depending on the RAM they stick in the 12.9” Pro, it’s basically an M1 MBA.
 
I wonder if they’ll tier the RAM like they did in 2018. 8GB for the 1TB (or higher?) and 6GB for all lower storage options. I hope they don’t do that but knowing Apple, the 2018 iPad Pros should have all shipped with 6GB of RAM and the 2020 should have been bumped up to 8GB.
My undereducated guess is no, it will not be tiered RAM. I've always wondered if the tiered RAM was as a sort of dev kit for Adobe and the like.
 
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Based on no real evidence, my gut says iPadOS 15 for the Pros bridges the Mac->iPad gap a bit more and WWDC will introduce Xcode for iPad. You won’t see it introduced or mentioned tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s introduced at WWDC. I mean, depending on the RAM they stick in the 12.9” Pro, it’s basically an M1 MBA.
I’m guessing the A14X plus possible Thunderbolt support and 5G may sway lots of people to upgrade, especially from pre-2018 Pros.
 
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Really? I ask that genuinely. Is it still not an LCD panel, just with different backlighting?

I imagine it won't be OLED level black no?
Yeah, because off will be off HOWEVER there’s a big caveat. Let’s say for demonstration that each LED serves as the backlight for 200 pixels. For the 200 pixels served by the same LED, their blackness as a group will be worse than OLED blackness. For LED’s that are off, those 200 pixels should be effectively like OLED.
 
Really? I ask that genuinely. Is it still not an LCD panel, just with different backlighting?

I imagine it won't be OLED level black no?
The reason you don’t get good black on an LCD panel has a lot to do with the fact that you are sidelighting, and you can’t stop the light from going to black pixels. With miniLED, you get much deeper blacks. The dynamic range should be nearly as good as OLED. The problem, though, is that miniLED doesn’t have one LED per pixel, so you can get coronas around shapes where the LEDs aren’t as granular as the pattern between black and non-black.
 
I was rather hoping they go slightly thinner. Something like 5mm.
 
The reason you don’t get good black on an LCD panel has a lot to do with the fact that you are sidelighting, and you can’t stop the light from going to black pixels. With miniLED, you get much deeper blacks. The dynamic range should be nearly as good as OLED. The problem, though, is that miniLED doesn’t have one LED per pixel, so you can get coronas around shapes where the LEDs aren’t as granular as the pattern between black and non-black.

Ahh, so with the LCD panels Apple has used in iPads haven't had backlighting, still were using side lighting?
 
This big to-do about silly 0.5mm thicker reminds me the silly Cigarette Size Wars of the 1960s. Most cigarettes back in the day when they could advertise on TV were 80mm in length. Then came King-Size .... ohh, 100mm in length!

And not to ignored in this Battle of the Sizes, Benson & Hedges came out with their 101's .... the ad campaign (and the jingle that actually did work its way into pop culture) was all about "Oh, the disadvantages of being a silly millimeter longer" (the jingle actually made Billboard's Top 100, as "The Disadvantages of You" by the Brass Ring).

I'm glad to see Apple returning to its senses (sorry, Jony Ivie, you were the worst thing to happen to Apple once Steve died).

P.S. It was the greatest way to teach American youth the metric system... yeah, we all knew what a silly millimeter was.
 
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Based on no real evidence, my gut says iPadOS 15 for the Pros bridges the Mac->iPad gap a bit more and WWDC will introduce Xcode for iPad. You won’t see it introduced or mentioned tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s introduced at WWDC. I mean, depending on the RAM they stick in the 12.9” Pro, it’s basically an M1 MBA.
This ☝🏼 If it’s simply a better screen and faster CPU, then there’s nothing compelling enough to want to upgrade. Allowing us to run MacOS in some virtualization environment would be the game changer. At least give us Docker support
 
I was sure miniLED allowed thinner devices. But no one is going to fuss over 0.5mm.

I understand why the name "mini"LED might make this confusing. But you have to remember that the current LCD panels on iPad's are using EdgeLED. The lighting of the pixels is only happening at the edge of the screen beaming light across all the pixels. This is why you will notice more backlight bleed on the edges.

Within miniLED all LCD-screens is becoming "FALD" (full-local-area-dimming) which means that you have zones behind the entire display making the panel capable of shutting of zones of light across the entirety of the display. It's not close to being as good as microLED or OLED where each individual pixel can be turned off by itself. But it's a massive improvement over CCFL LCD (the first wave of LCD screens with a massive body) and EdgeLED which has been the most common way of lighting LCD panels for ages now. The only advantage of EdgeLED is how you are able to make the device slightly thinner as you only have to make room for the lighting array on the edges of the screen and not across its entire back. We've had FALD LED displays offering full-local-area-dimming on a LED LCD display but the lighting array makes the devices too thick for it to make any sense on any mobile device. miniLED improves on it by making that array much thinner while also increasing the number of dimming zones it offers making it closed to OLED and microLED.
 
Based on no real evidence, my gut says iPadOS 15 for the Pros bridges the Mac->iPad gap a bit more and WWDC will introduce Xcode for iPad. You won’t see it introduced or mentioned tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be surprised at all if it’s introduced at WWDC. I mean, depending on the RAM they stick in the 12.9” Pro, it’s basically an M1 MBA.
If/when Apple does port Xcode to iPad, I have to wonder what that would mean for Macs? Aren't iPads & iPhones a bigger portion of their hardware revenues?

I was rather hoping they go slightly thinner. Something like 5mm.
Gotta wonder how much thinner iPads can really get? iPads & MacBook Airs are so thin, people can fairly easily put a piece of paper on top of them and not be able to tell they were there (yes, I've had this happen to coworkers).
 
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Imagine how amazing battery-life would be if Apple made the entire device as "thick" as the camera-bump?!

Oh well, we can always dream.
I've said this in other threads: I'd love to see the "regular" versions of MacBooks & iPads be the thin, light version while the "Pro" versions be thicker with beefier batteries, CPUs, & GPUs, etc. Better way to differentiate the Pro and & non-pro lines.
 
still in doubt that apple would only give mini LED to the larger display and not the 11. They are both pro devices, yet one would be more PRO then the other?

the pro max iphone 12 was only one that was suppose to have mmwave 5G yet the none max had it too and even the non pro.

This has happened before when Apple released the first iPad Pro 12.9", a few months later (like 6 month) they released the 9.5" iPad Pro that was better in pretty much every regard, including a better display.

If/when Apple does port Xcode to iPad, I have to wonder what that would mean for Macs? Aren't iPads & iPhones a bigger portion of their hardware revenues?

iPhones alone still make up for about 45% to 60% of all Apple revenue depending on which quarter you look at.
 
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If the camera bump is slightly smaller (e.g., 26mm vs 25mm square on the 11"), then the magic keyboards may still work, but they might not "fit" exactly right when you dock them magnetically.
 
Well, the “thicker because of mini-LED” is likely coming from folks that just have the drawings and making guesses :) Could be thicker due to periscope cameras or battery?
miniLED is literally thicker than regular LCD due to having dimming zones and requiring more space to fit them, it also can run hotter and require cooling. That's why the Pro Display XDR has that cheese grater design, it allows for the display to have an airflow to cool itself, without using fans that will add noise.
 
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