The iPad Pro 2021's main new feature is all but confirmed. We've just learned from another source that Apple is readying the new screens long rumored for the next high-end iPad.
Rumors of a mini-LED iPad began hitting the internet last summer. The latest smoke is emanating from the supply-chain news site DigiTimes, which claims that "Ennostar to start production of miniLED BLUs soon reportedly for Apple." If the rumors of an iPad Pro 2021 arriving at an Apple spring event are true, production will begin ramping up quickly.
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Ennostar is a Taiwanese technology firm that produces a wide array of components, including chips, displays, semiconductors, lights, and even packaging. According to DigiTimes, Ennostar will begin production on mini-LED displays "at the end of first-quarter 2021 or in the second quarter." Ennostar's home page breathlessly hypes up the future of mini-LED panels, which deliver a vast improvement over the LCD panels Apple currently uses.
If the mini-LED rumors come true, it seems like the best chance Apple has to convince shoppers to invest in its expensive tablets. mini-LED panels use smaller LEDs that give you better contrast ratios, truer black tones and higher brightness.
Aside from this change, the next iPad Pro is expected to be very similar to the existing model. It may be a hair thicker to accommodate the new display tech.
Word of the mini-LED displays in new MacBook Pro models have also been around, but the recent rumors have more focused on them arriving in the iPad Pro first.
Apple could also introduce a successor to the A12Z Apple Silicon, or just replace it with the speedy M1 chip seen in its MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and Mac mini.
