In a surprising turn of unexpected rumors (yet again), reputable display analyst, Ross Young, has reported that the upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Air will use the same mini-LED panels found in the current 12.9-inch iPad Pro. We initially expected that this upcoming larger tablet would stick with the traditional LCD panels to cut costs and to differentiate from the higher-end Pro counterpart, so today’s report may come out as a surprise for everyone. However, given Young’s strong track record, this report may seem plausible, and here’s why.
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro introduced in April 2021 was the first iPad model to feature mini-LED technology, and since Apple has been producing such display panels for over two years, the company likely has a leftover supply. So it would save the company tons of R&D and production costs to reuse existing components for upcoming models that are set to be released, and Apple has done that for years. Several examples include the Apple Watch SE, iPhone SE, and iPad Air.
With that said, the final pricing of Apple’s upcoming iPad Air and iPad Pro models is going to be very interesting. If we take a look at the current iPad Pro, the 11-inch model starts at $799, and the larger 12.9-inch model starts at $1,099. It’s worth noting that the smaller model uses the traditional LCD panel whereas the larger model uses the more advanced mini-LED panel, so it’s a $300 price gap between the two sizes.
Since the 11-inch iPad Pro has been using LCD panels, it’s more than likely that Apple will stick with that same display technology for the next iPad Air (10.9-inch). If that model starts at the same $599 price point, then we may also see the same price gap on the upcoming larger model at around $899. We’ve heard several rumors that the next iPad Pros are going to be even more expensive than they are now, so having the 12.9-inch iPad Air in the lineup will close the price gap quite nicely.
The current 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the 14-inch/16-inch MacBook Pro use mini-LED displays, or “Liquid Retina XDR Displays,” that offer significantly improved brightness levels, contrast ratios, and color accuracy over traditional LCD panels. Although those mini-LED displays don’t quite match the qualities found in the more advanced OLED displays, they don’t suffer burn-in issues and are cheaper to produce.
We have less than a month before we expect Apple to announce the new iPad Air and iPad Pro models around the second week of May, so we’ll see what the final starting price points will be for those new models.
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