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

by

Apple’s latest iPad Pro may look very similar to the model it replaces, but it contains some major improvements inside. It has the same powerful and energy efficient M1 chip as the latest MacBook Air, 13-inch MacBook Pro, Mac mini and now redesigned iMac. Cellular models have made the leap to 5G. The front camera can zoom in and out to keep you focused on video calls. But apart from the processor, the biggest technical leap is exclusively for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro: it’s what Apple calls the “Liquid Retina XDR,” a new display that adopts Mini LED backlight for greater brightness and a greater contrast than any iPad (or Mac) the company has ever made.

Apple says the 12.9-inch iPad Pro can reach 1,000 nits of full screen brightness – just like the ultra-expensive Pro Display XDR – and portions of the screen can reach 1,600 nits while playing HDR content. It is brighter than many 4K HDR TVs on the market.

For comparison, the iPad Pro previously exceeded 600 nits. Point. These measurements also eliminate the range of Apple Macs. The 16-inch MacBook Pro can reach up to 500 nits. The bright 24-inch iMac introduced yesterday? Also 500 nits. Things get a little closer when you look at the OLED screen of the iPhone 12 Pro, which can reach a maximum brightness of 800 nits and 1,200 in HDR.

But Apple is not yet ready to switch to OLED for its tablets, and the reasoning is likely to be reduced to the brightness advantage of the Mini LED – plus the company’s promise that this iPad Pro, with its sleek display, still has the standard 10 – battery life which iPad users expected. Either way, this is an upgrade that should be clearly obvious to the eye.

What is Mini LED?

Unlike OLED, where individual pixels self-illuminate and can turn off completely when not needed, Mini LED is more of a natural progression from LCD screens that have become such a pillar of consumer electronics. But where this new approach differs is the size and amount of LEDs behind the screen. During the Spring Loaded event, Heidi Delgado from Apple said that the iPad Pro previously had 72 LEDs, but the new “Liquid Retina XDR” manages to pack over 10,000 of them. Apple did this by miniaturizing the LEDs to a size “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 over 2,500 local dimming zones that can light up and dim individually based on what is displayed on the screen. According to Delgado, this granular level of control results in customers “seeing the brightest highlights along with subtle details in the darkest parts of an image.”


Blur areas may light up and dim depending on what is on the screen.

Apple is not the first Mini LED

Although this could be the first time that Mini LED finds its way into a tablet, the technology has already appeared in TVs. TCL really kicked off the trend in 2019, and apparently Samsung and LG have taken note: their state-of-the-art 2021 LCD TVs now also use Mini LED backlighting.

A view of the Mini LED TCL implementation on its TVs.
Image: TCL

Here’s how TCL explains the visual enhancements:

LCD LED TVs have two parts of the display that combine to create an image. The “LCD” part (liquid crystal display) of the display creates an image, and the “LED” (light emitting diode) part of the display produces light that shines through the image so that your eyes can see it. Therefore, the benefit of thousands of precision-controlled mini-LEDs in an active matrix backlight is a stronger light, which is more easily distributed on the screen, more precisely controlled for strong contrast and more efficient in creating intensely saturated colors that blind the eyes. The mini-LED simply offers dramatically better image performance.

The huge increase in LEDs could also lead to improved panel uniformity; some owners of previous 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPads have noticed uneven backlighting. After changing one or two for this very reason, I can guarantee. The “panel lottery” is something with almost any device – TVs, laptops, tablets, etc. – but switching to Mini LEDs should help with consistency.

What have I heard about MicroLED?

MicroLED is seen as the next major leap in TV display technology and the potential successor to OLED. It shares many of the best features of OLEDs (such as self-emitting LEDs), increases brightness and comes without most of the associated disadvantages, as the technology is inorganic. At the moment, MicroLED is extremely prohibitive and can only be found in Samsung’s ultra-premium luxury TVs.

The final impressions of the new iPad Pro will have to wait until we put them in hand. But, as someone who uses the previous 12.9-inch model daily for productive and creative purposes, I’m very curious to see what Mini LED adds to the iPad experience.

Related:

Source