What to expect from the next iPad Pro refresh: 5G, mini-LED, and more

9to5Mac is brought to you by Concepts App. Sketch and design your ideas on an infinite canvas with flexible vector ink. Available on iPad and iPhone. Try it for free. Even though Apple just refreshed the iPad Pro in March, many people are already asking about what to expect from the next revision. The next-generation iPad Pro is rumored to pack 5G, mini-LED display technology, and much more. Read on as we recap all of the rumors. The 2020 iPad Pro update Apple updated the iPad Pro in March, focusing primarily on an upgraded camera system and the new Magic Keyboard — which also works with the 2018 iPad Pro. The new 2020 iPad Pro camera includes the new LiDAR Scanner alongside a 12MP Wide camera, as well as a 10MP Ultra Wide camera. Internally, the 2020 iPad Pro packs the A12Z Bionic processor and 6GB of RAM. In many respects, this year’s iPad Pro update is an iterative refresh on the 2018 iPad Pro. For 2021, however, we expect a much more drastic overhaul. Display One of the biggest changes coming with the next-generation iPad Pro refresh is mini LED display technology. mini LED is expected to bring a variety of improvements, including display quality enhancements and longer battery life. Instead of one large backlight that spans the entire screen, a mini LED display is made up of many smaller dimming zones that can be turned on and off individually. This allows for black content areas to be truly black because the screen components are simply turned off completely in that region. Reports have said that Apple is interested in adopting mini LED screen panels because they offer a rich wide color gamut, high contrast ratios, high dynamic range, and localized dimming. mini LED is also believed to result in thinner panels that are more power-efficient. Meanwhile, OLED displays have issues with burn-in, color shifting, and high production costs. mini LED aims to solve these problems while offering similar contrast levels. For the iPad, this is particularly notable. Whereas the iPhone transitioned to OLED starting with the iPhone X, the iPad Pro still uses an LED-backlit display. You can read more about what Apple’s switch to mini LED will mean for users in our full roundup here. The iPad Pro won’t be the only Apple device to switch to mini LED, with reports suggesting other iPad models will follow suit, alongside the Mac lineup. We expect other flagship features of the iPad Pro display to remain the same: 11-inch and 12.9-inch variants, True Tone for color temperature adjustments, ProMotion for 120Hz refresh rates, and Liquid Retina quality. Connectivity: 5G iPad Pro Much like the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro coming later this year, the next-generation iPad Pro will also bring 5G connectivity for the first time. Details here are a bit unclear, but the iPad Pro rollout is likely to be similar to the iPhone 12. This means that the iPad Pro is likely to include support for both
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