Apple will not launch a new 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a mini-LED display until at least the second quarter of the year, which begins on April 1, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.
From today's report:
Epistar has become the exclusive supplier of miniLED chips to be used in 12.9-inch miniLED-backlit iPad Pro, with nearly 50% of the corresponding production capacity booked up for the tablet and volume shipments to begin in the second quarter of 2021, the sources said.
Last week, DigiTimes reported that the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro could launch at the end of March, or early in the second quarter. The publication is now shifting, explicitly stating that mass shipments for the new iPad will begin in the second quarter. At the same time last week, speculation grew that Apple will hold an event on Tuesday, March 23.
That event, yet to be confirmed, is rumored to include the launch of AirTags, AirPods 3, and new iPad Pro models. If DigiTimes is to be believed, however, the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a mini-LED display will not launch until at least April.
Apple has several products in the pipeline with mini-LED displays. Compared to regular LCDs, mini-LED offers higher brightness, improved contrast ratio, and is expected to become the new standard amongst Apple's future products, including a 14-inch MacBook Pro.
Apple may have canceled the super scratch resistant anti-reflective display coating that it planned to use for the iPhone 17 Pro models, according to a source with reliable information that spoke to MacRumors.
Last spring, Weibo leaker Instant Digital suggested Apple was working on a new anti-reflective display layer that was more scratch resistant than the Ceramic Shield. We haven't heard...
Apple has completed Engineering Validation Testing (EVT) for at least one iPhone 17 model, according to a paywalled preview of an upcoming DigiTimes report.
iPhone 17 Air mockup based on rumored design
The EVT stage involves Apple testing iPhone 17 prototypes to ensure the hardware works as expected. There are still DVT (Design Validation Test) and PVT (Production Validation Test) stages to...
Apple will likely manufacture its 20th anniversary iPhone models in China, despite broader efforts to shift production to India, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
In 2027, Apple is planning a "major shake-up" for the iPhone lineup to mark two decades since the original model launched. Gurman's previous reporting indicates the company will introduce a foldable iPhone alongside a "bold"...
This week marks the 10th anniversary of the Apple Watch, which launched on April 24, 2015. Yesterday, we recapped features rumored for the Apple Watch Series 11, but since 2015, the Apple Watch has also branched out into the Apple Watch Ultra and the Apple Watch SE, so we thought we'd take a look at what's next for those product lines, too.
2025 Apple Watch Ultra 3
Apple didn't update the...
Wednesday April 30, 2025 3:59 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple is preparing to launch a dramatically thinner iPhone this September, and if recent leaks are anything to go by, the so-called iPhone 17 Air could boast one of the most radical design shifts in recent years.
iPhone 17 Air dummy model alongside iPhone 16 Pro (credit: AppleTrack)
At just 5.5mm thick (excluding a slightly raised camera bump), the 6.6-inch iPhone 17 Air is expected to become ...
Wednesday April 23, 2025 8:31 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
While the iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are not expected to launch until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices.
Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of April 2025:
Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone ...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 3:36 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
All upcoming iPhone 17 models will come equipped with 12GB of RAM to support Apple Intelligence, according to the Weibo-based leaker Digital Chat Station.
The claim from the Chinese leaker, who has sources within Apple's supply chain, comes a few days after industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said that the iPhone 17 Air, iPhone 17 Pro, and iPhone 17 Pro Max will all be equipped with 12GB of RAM.
...
Tuesday April 29, 2025 1:30 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Despite being more than two years old, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 still dominate the premium wireless‑earbud space, thanks to a potent mix of top‑tier audio, class‑leading noise cancellation, and Apple's habit of delivering major new features through software updates. With AirPods Pro 3 widely expected to arrive in 2025, prospective buyers now face a familiar dilemma: snap up the proven...
I haven’t pulled the trigger on a M1 Mac because I want to see what the new iPad Pro has to offer. I truly believe the iPad Pro is the future of the Mac. It can technically run both iOS and Mac software with touch and pencil support, which I think it eventually will. The MacBook and regular iPads can stay as they are to please those that are devoted to those form factors, but Apple should run with the iPad Pro and give it all the capabilities to make it the perfect mobile computer, which I think it almost is.
I haven’t pulled the trigger on a M1 Mac because I want to see what the new iPad Pro has to offer. I truly believe the iPad Pro is the future of the Mac. It can technically run both iOS and Mac software with touch and pencil support, which I think it eventually will. The MacBook and regular iPads can stay as they are to please those that are devoted to those form factors, but Apple should run with the iPad Pro and give it all the capabilities to make it the perfect mobile computer, which I think it almost is.
iPad Pro is not the future of the Mac.
Besides the fact that management has repeatedly stated the two serve different purposes and make no sense to combine, you still can't code on the iPad Pro and you still can't develop software, iOS apps or otherwise.
The way many programmers are able to streamline their creation is through a shortcut-heavy, full-sized, full-powered keyboard, and low-level access to the console and directory through the terminal, homebrew, git, installing things like python, node, etc. The iPad, a device geared towards consumers, doesn't allow low-level access, and you still can't turn off animations, freely navigate the file system, and crawl it via command line. It's just not built to be a device from which you develop, and no amount of touch control is going to enable that.
Unless you are doing video editing and playing high end 3D games it makes no sense to get iPad pro.
The iPad Air and basic iPad is well okay for basic stuff.
Taking hand written notes, doing assignments and reading papers in university, especially for STEM, require a big screen. Bigger the better. It’s either the IPP or Surface Book.
