Apple has long stuck to its guns with not going towards OLED displays for its larger consumer devices, namely the MacBook Pro and the iPad. However, according to rumours that have long been around on the internet, the company has been looking at Mini-LEDs as a display technology for the future development of its product line-ups.
This was first claimed by famed Apple analyst Ming-chi Kuo earlier this year, but back then he had only mentioned that devices with Mini-LED displays will likely arrive in 2020 or 2021. Kuo has now narrowed that down to 2020 for the MacBook Pro and the iPad.
According to his note, the Cupertino giant will release the Mini-LED iPad will be announced sometime in Q3 2020, and will be powered by the A14X processor which is presumably a modified iPad-specific version of the company’s processor for the 2020 iPhones. The 16-inch MacBook Pro with the Mini-LED display on the other hand will likely be announced in Q4 2020, around the same time as the newly announced 16-inch MacBook Pro with the updated scissor-switch keyboard and dedicated escape key.
Kuo also mentions the reason Apple is gravitating towards Mini-LEDs for these bigger screens on its devices. According to his note the company is interested in using Mini-LEDs because they offer a lot of the same benefits as OLED panels, including local dimming, better contrast and dynamic range, but comes without the main issue underlying OLED panels — display burn-ins. That, in particular, is a big issue for the MacBook with items like the dock and the menu-bar being pretty much a static element of the UI, and with OLED panels that would definitely result in some burn-in.
With all of that refreshed hardware on the way, and the fact that the company is expected to release a 13-inch (or maybe 14-inch) MacBook Pro with the updated scissor-switch keyboard as well next year, it’s a tough time to decide whether to buy the 16-inch MBP right now, or wait it out and get the better display tech when Apple launches that late next year.
