New iPad Pro and MacBook Models With Mini-LED Displays Again Rumored to Launch This Year

[MacRumors]

Taiwanese company Ennostar will begin production of Mini-LED backlight units for an upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro in the late first quarter or second quarter of this year, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.

Ennostar is a holding company that was jointly established in January 2021 by LED-related manufacturers Epistar and Lextar Electronics.

Apple is expected to unveil the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Mini-LED backlighting in the first half of this year, with Epistar serving as the exclusive supplier of Mini-LED chips that will be packaged into backlight units by Lextar, the report claims. This timeframe has been rumored several times, with some reports narrowing down a release to the first quarter, so it is possible the new iPad Pro will be introduced in March.

The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro is also expected to feature a faster A14X chip and support for 5G networks on models with cellular connectivity.

It's unclear if Apple plans to introduce a new 11-inch iPad Pro at the same time, as many rumors have only mentioned the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. One possibility is that Mini-LED backlighting will be limited to the 12.9-inch model, with the 11-inch model's key new features limited to the A14X chip and 5G support, but it is unclear.

Apple will likely also adopt Mini-LED backlighting for new MacBook models to be unveiled in the second half of this year, according to the report. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models to launch in the second half of 2021 with a new design, the return of an HDMI port and SD card reader, the removal of the Touch Bar, classic MagSafe charging with a breakaway power cable, and more.

Article Link: New iPad Pro and MacBook Models With Mini-LED Displays Again Rumored to Launch This Year

 

[farewelwilliams]

digitimes...

big freaking *yawn*. move on.

 

[Zen_Arcade]

Hope the touch bar disappears. And that Magsafe and other ports return.

 

[Michael Scrip]

digitimes...

big freaking *yawn*. move on.

Is there a "report card" for Digitimes to check their accuracy?

I don't exactly know what Digitimes is. But whatever they do... they've been doing it for a looong time.

If they are wrong most of the time... they'd be gone already.

 

[calstanford]

What kind of useless rumor is that?

'to launch this year'

yea please what else is new? Will there be an iPhone 13? Any rumours? Who knows! Maybe there'll even be an M1X/M2 laptop? This year!


One thing I can say is: if Apple gives up on advancing the 11" Pro I won't upgrade my 2018 yet again. 2020 upgrade was a joke. The Air is not an upgrade from the 2018 11" and now it seems like maybe an A14x will be the only upgrade for the current 11". Yea no. Sorry.

 

[ChedNasad]

If only it were micro led. I guess certainly better than no improvement and I don’t think OLED is a great choice for laptops at this point. For iPad however OLED would be great. My galaxy tab s5e was purchased strictly due to the screen being so phenomenal. (And the lower price point)

 

[HarryWild]

Apple should jump to the Micro LED screens!

 

[macduke]

I'm toying around with the idea of upgrading my 2018 12.9" iPad Pro this year. My grandpa's iPad Air 2 is on life support with frequent reboots, even after a DFU restore from scratch. He's also having a harder time seeing it. I was thinking about giving him my 12.9" and setting it up in zoomed mode so he can see everything clearly. Then I can get this new one and upgrade to an Apple Silicon Mac in 2022 to spread out my upgrades.

 

[Steve121178]

iMac please.

 

[iJustines]

Can Tim Cook and Apple do it right without another catastrophic failure such as the butterfly keyboard?

 

[ksec]

Is there a "report card" for Digitimes to check their accuracy?

I don't exactly know what Digitimes is. But whatever they do... they've been doing it for a looong time.

If they are wrong most of the time... they'd be gone already.

You need to read into what they are reporting. For example I wouldn't trust anything about Kuo on reporting software or user features. Even though it is derived from possible hardware. But you should definitely trust that piece of hardware will exist.

The same as to Digitimes, forget anything that has to do with TSMC ( because they dont know anything about it ), Intel, or OLED, Foxconn ( Foxconn is a Taiwanese company but you should count it as a Chinese Supply Chain ), FaceID, Camera Sensors etc. But for things that are actually happening in the Taiwan supply chain, that is for example Mini-LED production. They tends to be fairly accurate that there will be Mini-LED.

But dont trust the date for launching though cause that is mostly speculation.

 

[chucker23n1]

Is there a "report card" for Digitimes to check their accuracy?

I don't exactly know what Digitimes is. But whatever they do... they've been doing it for a looong time.

If they are wrong most of the time... they'd be gone already.

There seems to be https://appletrack.org/leaderboard/

They put DigiTimes at 65.1% accurate. Honestly, I would have guessed closer to half that. They almost never seem to have the story quite right.

 

[chucker23n1]

Can Tim Cook and Apple do it right without another catastrophic failure such as the butterfly keyboard?


View attachment 1733904

Plausible, but I don't think they're gonna change the display resolution. They had a chance to increase the ppi with the late 2019 model.

 

[jdoll021]

Fingers crossed for a March release of a 12.9” iPad Pro. I’m on the first gen 12.9” Pro and the touch screen is becoming increasingly less responsive. It’s really starting to get on my nerves!

 

[iJustines]

Plausible, but I don't think they're gonna change the display resolution. They had a chance to increase the ppi with the late 2019 model.

The current generation of MacBook Pro is approximately 226 PPI (2012-2021). The Smartphones are approximately 428-458 PPI by 2021.

It's a significant amount of difference in pixel density and Apple want to fix that problem by improving the PPI on the next generation of 2021 MacBook Pro.

You can see why Apple Laptop market share is less than 7% and it's shockingly bad.

 

[DexBell]

"Apple is expected to unveil the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Mini-LED backlighting in the first half of this year"

Yep, no March event. iPad Pros aren't even built yet.

 

[unobtainium]

The current generation of MacBook Pro is approximately 227 PPI (2012-2021). The Smartphones are approximately 428-458 PPI by 2021.

It's a significant amount of difference in pixel density and Apple want to fix that problem by improving the PPI on the next generation of 2021 MacBook Pro.

You can see why Apple Laptop market share is less than 7% and it's shockingly bad.

Yeah starting in 2016 they really fell behind in laptop design: bad keyboards, bad resolution, bad webcams, bad price, bad port choice..With the M1 and these rumored changes to the MBP, let’s hope they’re turning it all around. It’s been a bleak 5 years for the MacBook.

 

[smoking monkey]

Can Tim Cook and Apple do it right without another catastrophic failure such as the butterfly keyboard?


View attachment 1733904

1800 bucks!?!?! Haha. You forgot to add 600~800 bucks to the sticker! No way that sucker coming in under $2399.

 

[bklement]

The ipad Air is the successor of the 11 inch pro, only 12.9 pro going on, with macos mode.

 

[farewelwilliams]

Is there a "report card" for Digitimes to check their accuracy?

I don't exactly know what Digitimes is. But whatever they do... they've been doing it for a looong time.

If they are wrong most of the time... they'd be gone already.

DigiTimes: 61.4% accurate

A very long running source for Apple rumors, DigiTimes situates itself as the king and the jester with a decently mixed track record. Rumor list 2022

appletrack.org

however, the scoring is misleading. digitimes shouldn't get points for putting out obvious rumor reports.

for example, this was posted on Mar 8, 2020

Apple Watch blood oxygen detection feature found in iOS 14 code snippet - 9to5Mac

Apple is developing at least two new features focused on health that will expand Apple Watch capabilities in the future....

9to5mac.com

and digitimes reported this on July 2020

Apple Watch Series 6 to Feature Blood Oxygen Monitoring Sensor

The Apple Watch Series 6 will add blood oxygen monitoring to its features list when it's launched later this year, according to a new report from...

www.macrumors.com

plenty of examples where digitimes just rehashed rumors to score points.

 

[chucker23n1]

The current generation of MacBook Pro is approximately 227 PPI (2012-2021). The Smartphones are approximately 428-458 PPI by 2021.

Yes, but, 1) smartphones are much closer to your face, so a higher ppi is warranted, and 2) the ppi of OLEDs is misleading. Better to compare against a recent TFT iPhone, the iPhone 11 at 326.

It's a significant amount of difference in pixel density and Apple want to fix that problem by improving the PPI on the next generation of 2021 MacBook Pro.

I don't think they will.

You can see why Apple Laptop market share is less than 7% and it's shockingly bad.

Nor do I think increasing ppi will have measurable effect on sales.

 

[iJustines]

Yes, but, 1) smartphones are much closer to your face, so a higher ppi is warranted, and 2) the ppi of OLEDs is misleading. Better to compare against a recent TFT iPhone, the iPhone 11 at 326.



I don't think they will.



Nor do I think increasing ppi will have measurable effect on sales.

That's your unpragmatic thoughts and it's a problematic for not admitting any shortcoming of the MacBook Pro. It must be very sad for you to think that way ?.

 

[travelsheep]

I got all the cables and adapters. Just continue to give me my 4 ports, 2 on each side, plus the headphone jack.

 

[chucker23n1]

That's your unpragmatic thoughts and it's a problematic for not admitting any shortcoming of the MacBook Pro. It must be very sad for you to think that way ?.

Hope your magical thinking rewards you one day.

 

[otternonsense]

Can Tim Cook and Apple do it right without another catastrophic failure such as the butterfly keyboard?


View attachment 1733904

No. He still thinks he's innovating more than ever while all he does is stuffing up legacy devices with gimmicky trash that get called back or removed a couple years later. All these record quarterly earnings achieve is to further boost his can't-do-no-wrong ego.