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

iPad Pro 2024 Space Black

Apple Has Likely Abandoned 'iPad Ultra' Plans

Wednesday April 29, 2026 10:30 am PDT by
Apple has reportedly abandoned plans for a foldable "iPad Ultra" following years of disappointing sales performance for the iPad Pro. The claim predominantly comes from the Weibo leaker known as "Instant Digital," who posted the remark in response to a question about whether the iPad would join a rumored "Ultra" series of Apple devices. Instant Digital listed the Apple Watch Ultra, M-series...
Four iPhone 18 Pro Colors Mock Feature

iPhone 18 Pro Launching Later This Year With These 10 New Features

Tuesday May 26, 2026 6:32 am PDT by
While the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max are not launching until September, there are already plenty of rumors about the devices. It was initially reported that the iPhone 18 Pro models would have fully under-screen Face ID, with only a front camera visible in the top-left corner of the screen. However, the latest rumors indicate that only one Face ID component will be moved under the...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Black Titanium

watchOS 27 Will Add These New Features to Your Apple Watch

Sunday May 24, 2026 11:53 am PDT by
Apple will unveil watchOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on Monday, June 8, and a handful of new features have been rumored already. The first developer beta of watchOS 27 should be available immediately following the keynote, and a public beta typically follows in July. The update should be released to all users with a compatible Apple Watch model in September. Below, we recap watchOS...

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)