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TheRealAlex

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Sep 2, 2015
2,988
2,252
The Airs. Yes, the Pros remain LCD (with mini-LED, at least in the 12.9") and the Airs go OLED. And I can believe it, because they have different target markets.
No Fing way a low tier iPad goes OLED that’s an expensive display tech the Air Price will go way up. But this is deviously genius by Apple. Because it will push people stuck on LCD iPads to upgrade to OLED.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,950
12,918
No Fing way a low tier iPad goes OLED that’s an expensive display tech the Air Price will go way up. But this is deviously genius by Apple. Because it will push people stuck on LCD iPads to upgrade to OLED.
You are mistaken. High end mini-LED LCD costs more than consumer OLED, if you consider the whole package. It's possible the Air would go up in price $100 or something if it got OLED, but it would still likely be cheaper than a high-end mini-LED LCD model.

Now, a low end mini-LED LCD would cost less than OLED, but low end mini-LED LCD is almost pointless IMO.

BTW, the uber, uber expensive Apple Pro Display XDR is still an LCD and doesn't even have mini-LED. It would actually be significantly cheaper for Apple to go with consumer OLED, but that would be inferior for content creation in several ways.
 
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JPack

macrumors G5
Mar 27, 2017
13,561
26,213
No Fing way a low tier iPad goes OLED that’s an expensive display tech the Air Price will go way up. But this is deviously genius by Apple. Because it will push people stuck on LCD iPads to upgrade to OLED.

Not sure why there's this myth that OLED is some uber expensive tech.

$399 Lenovo Tab P11 Pro has a 11.5" OLED. Same PPI as iPad Air.

It's time to change your perspective. Mini LED slots above OLED.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,950
12,918
Not sure why there's this myth that OLED is some uber expensive tech.

$399 Lenovo Tab P11 Pro has a 11.5" OLED. Same PPI as iPad Air.

It's time to change your perspective. Mini LED slots above OLED.
I think the more accurate statement is that high-end implementations of mini-LED are superior to OLED for certain use cases, particularly with content creation.

However, I don't think it's really true if you simply say "Mini-LED slots above OLED." since in some use cases, OLED still has the advantage.
 

wave84

macrumors member
Sep 11, 2014
76
182
It all boils down to each person's use case.

I actually have both an iPad Pro and a Lenovo P11 Pro tablet with an 11.5 OLED screen. I bought the latter for media consumption (watching movies, mostly). And there is absolutely no contest for that. Indoors, for watching stuff or general browsing, the screen on the Lenovo is worlds, worlds better than the iPad's. The contrast and perfect blacks you get from the OLED are amazing. I am sure that will hold true against the miniLED as well. If you are using your tablet at home, indoors, the OLED would be infinitely better.

However, Apple obviously thinks the use case for a Pro lies beyond watching stuff at home... you are supposed to use it in a vast array of environments and presumably for a longer amount of time. Burn in must have played a role in their decision to go for mini LED as well, for the Pro.

Personally, after seeing and having OLED, no way would I get anything else. Even with my iMac or the XDR, I can tell the difference.
 
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James Godfrey

macrumors 68020
Oct 13, 2011
2,068
1,710
Most likely M2, but not OLED... if apple wanted OLED it would be in the Pro right now... it’s cheaper for them.

I think Apple have weighed up the pros and cons of both screen tech and decided to go with miniLED for the foreseeable until microLED becomes cost effective enough, OLED will likely come to the Air though... I imagine come late 2022:

iPad - Laminated display (possibly edge to edge, but very much doubt it) and A14.

iPad Air - OLED display and A16, probably a full 11” display rather than 10.9”.

iPad Pro 11” - miniLED display and M2.

iPad Pro 12.9” - miniLED display and M2.
 

VaruLV

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2019
636
561
Given how powerful M1 is and its yet untapped potential they might just make minor upgrade next year, say, increase base storage to 256GB and, perhaps, add core or two to its iGPU or release rumored Apple Pencil 3 with it, maybe some more colors.
I dont expect anything “worthy” in 2022, that could make 2021 iPP owners run for an upgrade. Might as well take more than a year till refresh for 12.9 too.
11 Pro, who knows, perhaps miniLED mext year and thats it, aside from base storage upgrade.
IMHO its too much to expect to get some substantial hw upgrades this fast.
 
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EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,950
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I dont expect anything “worthy” in 2022, that could make 2021 iPP owners run for an upgrade. Might as well take more than a year till refresh for 12.9 too.
The main target market of new iPad Pro releases is basically never the owners of the previous model iPad Pro.
 
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VaruLV

macrumors 6502a
Mar 25, 2019
636
561
The main target market of new iPad Pro releases is basically never the owners of the previous model iPad Pro.
Given how much of an "upgrade" was 2020 Pro vs 2018 Pro, quite a few folks just grabbed 2018 models on sale. So it is rather relevant IMHO as in people "skipping" latest minor update in favor of previous model.
And Im not sure Apple arent willing to push people to upgrade from previous gen to new gen, they want the money.
 
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RamGuy

macrumors 65816
Jun 7, 2011
1,362
1,922
Norway
I have yet to see any miniLED displays myself so far, so I won't judge anything myself before I see it. But from a pure technology standpoint, miniLED is inferior to OLED in pretty much every way other than brightness and less likely to have image retention. miniLED should also degrade less over time, but most of us will be replacing our iPad Pro's long before that becomes an issue.

The FALD should provide the miniLED display to have much better black level control than regular LED. But it's still far from being OLED, where every individual pixel can be switched off. The big question is how good these 2500 local array dimming zones will work in practice when it comes to black levels and backlight bleed.

microLED will be the death of OLED as it provides all the benefits of OLED while also bringing all the benefits of LCD. But microLED and miniLED is not the same at all. microLED will offer the same capability of turning each pixel while also providing the benefits of higher brightness levels and less image retention, and less degradation over time than OLED. Sadly we are still years from seeing microLED in any consumer device.
 

aevan

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2015
4,540
7,236
Serbia
I’m floored by today’s announcement. But I’m waiting for OLED.

Yeah this definitely has me amped and expecting OLED for next year! :D

You’re not getting an OLED. Apple wouldn’t invest into Mini LED for just one generation, and in many ways, it’s better for this kind of device (iPad, Mac, etc.) With this high contrast ratio and 1600 nit peak brightness, it’s obvious this is their answer to OLED tablets and laptops. I expect it to look amazing, get near OLED levels of contrast, higher peak brightness and no burn in when using static elements like UI.

This is very advanced, modern screen tech. I wouldn’t dismiss it before seeing it.
 
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aevan

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2015
4,540
7,236
Serbia
The FALD should provide the miniLED display to have much better black level control than regular LED. But it's still far from being OLED, where every individual pixel can be switched off. The big question is how good these 2500 local array dimming zones will work in practice when it comes to black levels and backlight bleed.

2500 dimming zones on a 12.9” screen is.... a lot of dimming zones. It will look great. Also, remember that iPads (and MacBooks, which will probably get this tech too) have a lot of static elements that stay on screen for a long time. The iPad Pros are productivity devices where people have UIs on the screen for hours. I think having an OLED screen for such devices would be problematic long-term.

Also, 1600 nits? Come on - even the latest LG and Sony OLED TVs barely hit 1000nits peak, let alone full screen - this has 1000 nits full screen and 1600 peak! That’s seriously impressive.

If Apple didn’t think this was better, they could’ve just used OLED panels. I expect these screens to be amazing, and probably the best choice for these types of devices. And I say this as someone who is a huge OLED fan, I love it on my TV, on my iPhone, on my Apple Watches.
 

someone33

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2014
92
87
Everyone thinking OLED is superior to the mini LED on this new iPad is going to find out soon how wrong they are. Black levels will be perfectly black with 2500 dimming zones on that small of a screen. My 75” Z9D with 800 dimming zones has great blacks, I could only imagine 2500. A million:1 contrast ratio and you guys are worried about the blacks? Lol, this will be better than OLED without the disadvantages.
 

AutomaticApple

Suspended
Nov 28, 2018
7,401
3,378
Massachusetts
Everyone thinking OLED is superior to the mini LED on this new iPad is going to find out soon how wrong they are. Black levels will be perfectly black with 2500 dimming zones on that small of a screen. My 75” Z9D with 800 dimming zones has great blacks, I could only imagine 2500. A million:1 contrast ratio and you guys are worried about the blacks? Lol, this will be better than OLED without the disadvantages.
You fail to mention that OLED has significantly more dimming zones. How are dimming zones more accurate than individual control over each pixel?

Mini-LED doesn't turn pixels off. OLED can. Thus, much better battery with OLED.
 

BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,127
4,502
I’m floored by today’s announcement. But I’m waiting for OLED.

You'll be waiting until we're all dust. OLED ain't coming to Apple products.

We shall see.

However, I will point out that cheap consumer OLED easily bests the Apple Pro XDR display for black levels. As in no contest.

And the Pro Display beats OLED for everything concerning its intended use. Which is, creating HDR content. OLED is (and will never be) up to that contest.

Signed,
An LG OLED and Pro Display XDR owner.
 

NT1440

macrumors Pentium
May 18, 2008
15,093
22,159
If it isn't clear by now, it should be. Mini LED is the future. Apple won't move backwards to OLED, except on the iPad Air due to the lower cost of OLED.

This is first gen mini LED and it already has 1,600 nits and 2,500 dimming zones.
This. Mini-LED is the stopgap to Micro-LED.
 

EugW

macrumors G5
Jun 18, 2017
14,950
12,918
You'll be waiting until we're all dust. OLED ain't coming to Apple products.
OLED is already in lots of Apple products.

And the Pro Display beats OLED for everything concerning its intended use. Which is, creating HDR content. OLED is (and will never be) up to that contest.

Signed,
An LG OLED and Pro Display XDR owner.
You basically just repeated what I said, which is that some LCD displays are superior to OLED for its intended use. However, for my specific desired usage, which is not what people generally use the Pro Display XDR for, the LCD based displays are not ideal.
 

someone33

macrumors member
Sep 17, 2014
92
87
You fail to mention that OLED has significantly more dimming zones. How are dimming zones more accurate than individual control over each pixel?

Mini-LED doesn't turn pixels off. OLED can. Thus, much better battery with OLED.
I'll gladly sacrifice a little battery life for better picture quality. It's amazing how many people are blinded by OLED marketing and don't understand the many disadvantages it comes with. Near black performance and motion are much better on LED. And with 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 2500 dimming zones, the advantage of individual pixel control is negligible. Anyone trying to equate this new mini-LED screen to any previous LCD screen simply has no idea what they're talking about. The blacks on this will be perceptually as black as OLED in a dark room.
 
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