Apple Discusses M1 iPad Pro in New Interview, Including Lack of XDR Display on 11-Inch Model - MacRumors
Skip to Content

Apple Discusses M1 iPad Pro in New Interview, Including Lack of XDR Display on 11-Inch Model

Apple marketing employee Scott Broderick and display engineer Vincent Gu recently spoke with Apple Bitz XL podcast host Brian Tong about the new iPad Pro, including the M1 chip and the Liquid Retina XDR display.


While the Apple employees dodged many of the questions asked in the interview, they did reveal that the new 11-inch iPad Pro's lack of a Liquid Retina XDR display is at least partly due to weight considerations. The latest 11-inch model weighs 1.03 pounds, while the 12.9-inch model weighs 1.5 pounds, in part due to the heavier XDR display.

"What we know about the 11-inch user is that they just love bringing a super powerful iPad with them in a portable one-pound design," said Broderick. "They just love the form factor of that. Whereas the user who is embracing the 12.9-inch display, they were looking for the largest canvas to do their most creative work on that product, and that made sense to bring that XDR technology to the 12.9-inch display for the iPad Pro."

The interview also discusses the capabilities of the iPad Pro's newly added Thunderbolt support, the new Center Stage front camera feature that automatically keeps users perfectly framed during video calls, and more.

Related Roundup: iPad Pro
Buyer's Guide: iPad Pro (Neutral)

Popular Stories

Chase Sapphire Reserve Apple Perk Feature

Chase Sapphire Preferred Card Introduces New Perk for Apple Customers

Monday June 15, 2026 12:07 pm PDT by
Chase this week announced new perks for its Sapphire Preferred credit card, and one of them is a complimentary one-year Apple TV streaming subscription. To get the free year of Apple TV, which typically costs $12.99 per month in the U.S., you must activate the card by December 31, 2026. If you are already subscribed to Apple TV directly through Apple, the complimentary subscription from...
Chase Sapphire Reserve Apple Perk Feature

New 'Apple One' Perk Extends to Chase's Sapphire Reserve Credit Card

Tuesday June 16, 2026 6:26 am PDT by
Yesterday, we reported that Chase's Sapphire Preferred credit card ($95 annual fee) now offers a complimentary one-year Apple TV streaming subscription, or a $7.50/month discount on an active Apple One subscription instead. It turns out that the Apple One discount now extends to Chase's premium Sapphire Reserve credit card too ($795 annual fee). The Sapphire Reserve has offered free...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3 and Beats Studio Buds

Tuesday June 16, 2026 11:19 am PDT by
Apple today released new firmware for the AirPods Pro 3 and AirPods Pro 2. The firmware has a version number of 8B41, up from 8B40 for the AirPods Pro 3 and 8B39 for the AirPods Pro 2. There is no word on what's included in the new firmware, but Apple has a support document with limited notes. Most updates are limited to bug fixes and performance improvements. To get the updated...

Top Rated Comments

66 months ago
Yowza, their comment about the XDR display is some top quality spin! I wonder what they’ll say when they add it to the 11-in iPP in the next update.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
FasterQuieter Avatar
66 months ago
This is painfully boring to watch. They are so constrained in how they speak.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
66 months ago
I was going to upgrade from the 2018 iPad Pro 11" model, but without the XDR screen, I will hold off another year until it's there. My current iPad Pro is still in good shape and not really running into any issues with it.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Kylo83 Avatar
66 months ago
The new Xdr display has massive shadow issues I would not get it, I’m returning mine, also m1 will always be over kill, this interview was kinda pointless they never answer any questions
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
66 months ago
They wanted to keep the price lower.
Next generation of Pro 11’ will have the XDR display.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
djcerla Avatar
66 months ago
… or they couldn’t source more XDR displays.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)