Kuo: 12.9-Inch iPad Pro and 16-Inch MacBook Pro With Mini-LED Displays to Launch in Second Half of 2020 - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Kuo: 12.9-Inch iPad Pro and 16-Inch MacBook Pro With Mini-LED Displays to Launch in Second Half of 2020

Apple is planning four to six products with mini-LED displays over the next two to three years, including a high-end 12.9-inch iPad Pro with an A14X chip in the third quarter of 2020 and a refreshed 16-inch MacBook Pro in the fourth quarter of 2020, according to well-known Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.

Apple 16 inch MacBook Pro 111319 big
In a research note with TF International Securities today, obtained by MacRumors, Kuo said the mini-LED displays will "significantly improve productivity and the entertainment experience" without elaborating.

LG Display and GIS will be the most significant benefactors of these mini-LED products starting next year, according to Kuo.

Kuo has previously said that Mini-LED displays will allow for thinner and lighter product designs, while offering many of the same benefits of OLED displays used on the latest iPhones, including good wide color gamut performance, high contrast and dynamic range, and local dimming for truer blacks.

Kuo has also previously said that future iPad and MacBook displays will each use approximately 10,000 LEDs, compared to 576 in Apple's upcoming Pro Display XDR. Each LED would be below 200 microns in size.

Apple is widely rumored to refresh the iPad Pro in spring 2020, and if so, a new 12.9-inch model in fall 2020 would certainly be soon after.

Update: DigiTimes reports similar: "For the new MacBook said to adopt mini LED backlighting and to be released in 2020, its backlighting module reportedly will be supplied by Taiwan-based Zhen Ding Tech, the sources noted."

Related Roundups: iPad Pro, MacBook Pro
Related Forum: MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

m3 ipad air mint

Apple Adds 36-Month Carrier Financing for Cellular iPads

Wednesday July 15, 2026 7:41 am PDT by
Apple has introduced 36-month financing for cellular iPad purchases through AT&T and Verizon, adding to the 12-month option previously available via Apple Card. The new financing, first reported by 9to5Mac, replaces Apple Card Monthly Installments as the sole route to spreading out a cellular iPad purchase. That plan paid off the balance interest-free over 12 months; the new carrier options...
iPhone 18 Pro Rumored Colors

Apple Cutting Back 2026 Hardware Shipments Due to Memory Shortage

Monday August 10, 2026 11:38 am PDT by
Apple is scaling back its hardware shipment plans in 2026 due to DRAM shortages, Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said today. Kuo made the comment in a longer piece disputing a recent report suggesting TSMC has $1 billion of unpackaged processors waiting on memory chips that Apple has been unable to secure. Kuo said Apple plans processor production at least three months in advance based on the...
apple silicon mac lineup 2024 feature purple

Apple to Overhaul Mac Lineup With 11 New Models

Wednesday July 22, 2026 8:13 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to refresh every Mac it sells over the next two years, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The plans come amid a Mac resurgence, with sales projected to climb for a third consecutive year, partly thanks to a growing following among users who lean on the machines for demanding, agent-based AI workloads. The wave of new Macs will begin this fall with a refreshed...

Top Rated Comments

87 months ago
Can't wait for all the posts about how mini LED is going to solve all the LCD and OLED problems only to find in a year that mini LED has a bunch of problems of its own
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ThisBougieLife Avatar
87 months ago
Ah crap now I regret getting the 2019 16”
:( Only partly kidding.

“Around the corner” syndrome is hard to
overcome.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
aevan Avatar
87 months ago

Can't wait for all the posts about how mini LED is going to solve all the LCD and OLED problems only to find in a year that mini LED has a bunch of problems of its own
That's MicroLED. MicroLED will solve some of the biggest issues of both technologies. It will be self-emissive like OLED which means insane contrasts and amazing viewing angles, but it will also have peak brightness of LCD and no burn-in issues. It will be a big step forward.

However, that is not coming soon. Mini-LED is something in between. It is, actually, close to standard LED LCD, it's just it has much smaller LED backlights that will allow better contrast than standard LED LCD screens. So, they are still backlight screens, unlike OLED/MicroLED screens.

They are very expensive to make, though, so I'm not sure if that is really coming so soon.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigBoy2018 Avatar
87 months ago

But I just bought the new 16" MBP...!
Late 2020. Whatever made you think that after you bought your mbp that Apple would suddenly stop doing a yearly release?
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
87 months ago
I was hoping for iPad Pro update to be within the first half of 2020. :(
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
87 months ago
Seems like 2020 will be when all the good stuff is coming.

Redesigned iPhone with X55 modem (and high refresh rate display?)
New Macbooks (802.11ax and high refresh rate display?)
New iPads
New iMac possibly?

I’m not a Beats user myself but my wife has been waiting what feels like forever for Beats Studio 4 headphones - another 2020 release?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)