Big iPad, Mini LED: why Apple’s new iPad Pro screen is better and brighter

Apple’s latest iPad Pro may look a lot like the model it’s replacing, but it does contain several major upgrades on the inside. It has the same powerful, energy-efficient M1 chip as the latest MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini, and now the redesigned iMac. Cellular models made the leap to 5G. The front-facing camera can zoom in and out to focus you on video calls. But aside from the processor, the biggest technical leap is exclusive to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro: this is what Apple calls the ‘Liquid Retina XDR’, a new screen that uses Mini-LED lighting for higher brightness and greater gain contrast than any iPad (or Mac) the company has ever made.

Apple says the 12.9-inch iPad Pro can reach 1000 nets of full-screen brightness – just like the ultra-expensive Pro Display XDR – and portions of the screen can touch a striking 1600 just when playing HDR content. It’s brighter than many 4K HDR TVs on the market.

For comparison, the previous iPad Pro was 600 neat. Point. These measurements also destroy Apple’s Mac series. The 16-inch MacBook Pro can handle up to 500 nets. The flashy 24-inch iMac launched yesterday? Also 500 nets. Things move a little closer when you look at the OLED screen of the iPhone 12 Pro, which can reach a maximum brightness of 800 net and 1200 in HDR.

But Apple is not yet ready to switch to OLED for its tablets, and the reasoning probably boils down to the brightness advantage of Mini LED – plus the company’s promise that this iPad Pro still has the standard 10 with its flashy display. -hour battery life that iPad users expected. Either way, this is an upgrade that should be clear to the eye.

What is Mini LED?

Unlike OLED, where individual pixels are self-illuminating and can turn off fully when not needed, Mini LED is a more natural advancement from the LCD screens that have become such a mainstay of consumer electronics. But where this new approach distinguishes itself is the size and quantity of LEDs behind the screen. During the Spring Loaded event, Apple’s Heidi Delgado said that the previous iPad Pro had 72 LEDs, but the new ‘Liquid Retina XDR’ manages to pack more than 10,000 of them. Apple managed to do this by miniaturizing the LEDs to ‘120 times smaller in volume than the previous design’.

Apple says the 12.9-inch iPad Pro has more than 10,000 LEDs.
Image: Apple

The Mini-LEDs are grouped into more than 2500 local dimming zones that can be individually brightened and dimmed based on everything displayed on the screen. According to Delgado, this grain level results in customers ‘seeing the brightest highlights along with subtle details in the darkest parts of an image’.


The dimming zones can illuminate and dim based on what is on the screen.

Apple is not first for Mini LED

Although this is the first time that Mini LED has found a tablet, the technology has already appeared in TVs. TCL really boosted the trend in 2019, and apparently Samsung and LG have taken note: their higher-end 2021 LCD TVs now also use Mini-LED backlighting.

A visualization of TCL’s Mini LED implementation on its TVs.
Image: TCL

Here’s how TCL explains the visual enhancements:

LED LCD TVs have two parts of the screen that work together to create an image. The “LCD” (liquid crystal display) part of the screen creates an image and the “LED” (light emitting diode) part of the screen produces light that shines through the image so that your eyes can see it. Thus, the benefit of thousands of precisely controlled mini-LEDs in an active matrix backlight is more powerful light that is more evenly distributed across the screen, more precisely regulated for sharp contrast and more effective at creating vibrantly saturated colors that dazzle the eye. Mini-LED simply delivers dramatically better image performance.

The large increase in LEDs can also lead to improved uniformity of the panel; some owners of the previous 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad processors saw uneven backlighting. If I swapped one or two for this reason, I can vouch for it. The “panel lottery” is a thing with almost any device – TVs, laptops, tablets, etc. – but the move to Mini LED should help with consistency.

What do I hear about MicroLED?

MicroLED is seen as the next big leap in TV display technology and the potential successor to OLED. It shares many of OLED’s best features (such as self-emitting LEDs), increases brightness and comes without the most associated disadvantages, as the technology is inorganic. But right now, MicroLED is excessively expensive and is actually only found in Samsung’s ultra-premium luxury TVs.

Final impressions on the new iPad Pro will have to wait until we get our hands on it. But as someone who uses the previous 12.9-inch model daily for productive and creative purposes, I am very curious to see what Mini LED contributes to the iPad experience.

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