We have seen the latest iPad lineup, specifically the iPad Air 4 and the iPad 8, recently being launched by Apple at the September 15 event. At this event, we saw a major design refresh for the iPad Air 4 whereas the iPad 8 was mostly the same as last year with a few changes here and there.
However, reports have suggested that Apple is planning something big for the iPad and Mac lineup next year. This will be in the form of a new display technology named “mini-LED” which is not same as AMOLED but similar to it.
So far, we have seen that while tablets have come up with AMOLED displays, laptops have not and the reason being a burn-in issue on OLED panels. As we have mostly static content on laptops, this problems gets even more rather than on tablets and phones were the content refreshes at a faster rate.
Therefore, mini-LED is seen as the perfect middle-ground where the burn-in issue of OLED is solved and it gives similar display quality and deep black levels as OLED panels as well while still giving the longevity as with LCD panels.
Now, the latest report has surfaced from Ming Chi-Kuo who was surprisingly silent from quite some time now. Kuo has revealed in his latest report to the investors that Apple is planning to speed up the process of shifting its iPad and Mac lineup to mini-LEDs from the current panels. It means the iPad Pro lineup will shift from OLED to mini-LED while all the other iPads will get mini-LED.
On the other hand, all the Mac devices which include Macbooks too will have mini-LEDs going forward which would be great for the market. The main reason as to why we did not see mini-LEDs this year and Kuo expects them to be available next year is because “Apple’s cost for mini-LED display dies from $75–$85 down to around $45”.
Basically, the prices of mini-LEDs have dropped to half of what they were which means they are ready to be placed inside products while still maintaining costs similar to LCD panels. This is great news for Apple fans and users of their products because mini-LEDs seem to be a game-changer giving deep blacks even on laptops and PCs that everyone loves on OLED phones.
Kuo expects Apple to include mini-LEDs on 30-40% iPad shipments next year while 20-30% Macbooks next year will also get the same display. This is a clear hint that next year’s iPad Pro and even the iPad Air might adopt to this display technology while the iPad and the iPad Mini might get them in 2022. Because we know that majority of the iPad shipments are for the iPad and the iPad Mini.
As for the Macbooks, it looks like the Macbook Pro 16-inch will get the mini-LEDs first and then the Macbook Pro 13/14-inch variant will get this display. Later on, Apple might include the same on Macbook Air and the upcoming rumored Macbook with ARM chip.
