We’ve heard and written about the mini-LED iPads multiple times, but today we get some tangible proof that something’s in the making. We’re not sure if the new mini-LED iPads will come as soon as March, when Apple is rumored to hold the next event, but it may come during a Fall event. Digitimes reports that Ennostar will start mass producing mini LED panels at the end of the quarter, meaning March.
This fits the previous info saying that the new iPad Pro models, 11 inch and 12.9 inches will be unveiled in March, but the schedule sounds pretty tight. The Pro models are said to be the first to adopt a mini-LED panel and this is just the start. We should see such panels on the 14 inch and 16 inch MacBook Pros, but that’s not set in stone. Apple has also tried to get new types of panels on other devices, like micro-LED ones for wearables and even iPhones.
For those who want details, mini LED panels are much like LCDs, but with more local dimming zones than current panels. Instead of a few dozen dimming zones there are hundreds or even thousands. They need liquid crystal layers and also use emissive pixels, like OLEDs. The resulting panel is brighter and more power efficient than OLEDs since they don’t use organic materials. Ennostar is a Taiwanese firm, that products a wide variety of components, including chips, displays, semiconductors, lights and packaging even.
There’s also a new OLED iPad Pro coming in the future, but we don’t have a clear launch date. Apple has a lot of variables to figure out, as it has yet to launch a 5G iPad for example. We’ll most likely see mini LED iPads first and then OLED ones, maybe in 2022. It would be odd to have mini LED iPads Pros in March and OLED ones in the Fall… Maybe they’ll make it to the iPad Air series?
