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Insider says next year’s iPad Pro and MacBook Pro will use next-gen display tech we’ve never seen before

Published Sep 30th, 2019 7:31AM EDT
iPad Pro vs. MacBook Pro
Image: Apple

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The iPhone 11 has been selling in stores for more than a week now, but the new handsets shouldn’t be Apple’s only new products set to launch in time for the holidays. Apple is expected to refresh the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro with brand new devices, including a laptop with a 16-inch display. But the two devices are set to get even more significant upgrades starting with late 2020 when Apple will introduce a brand new display technology for the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro.

Well-known Apple insider Ming-Chi Kuo, whose predictions about unreleased Apple products are usually highly accurate, is back with another note to customers that details Apple’s plans for next year. According to MacRumors, the analyst said that upcoming iPad and MacBook models will get Mini-LED displays between late 2020 and mid-2021.

The new displays will incorporate as many as 10,000 LEDs, compared to just 576 in the Pro Display XDR monitor made for the upcoming Mac Pro. Each LED should measure less than 200 microns, which makes it significantly smaller than the ones in the new Pro display.

The Mini-LED displays will let manufacturers create thinner and lighter products, while also offering wide color gamut performance, high contrast, HDR, and local dimming, Kuo said. The move to Mini-LED would also help Apple cut its reliance to Samsung OLED displays. The new panels would be produced by LG Display, with several Mini-LED part suppliers to be involved in the component chain.

The 2020 iPad Pros will come feature 10-inch and/or 12-inch displays, the report notes, and should hit markets between the fourth quarter of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021.

The new MacBook Pros, meanwhile, will launch much later, between the first and second quarters of 2021, featuring displays between 15-inches and 17-inches.

Chris Smith Senior Writer

Chris Smith has been covering consumer electronics ever since the iPhone revolutionized the industry in 2008. When he’s not writing about the most recent tech news for BGR, he brings his entertainment expertise to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe and other blockbuster franchises.

Outside of work, you’ll catch him streaming almost every new movie and TV show release as soon as it's available.