Two MacBook Pro models are getting mini LED displays in 2021 while the MacBook Air will also have the same feature the following year, an Apple analyst said.
Mini LED displays are coming to some MacBook models in 2021. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo made the fearless prediction in light of Apple's push for its MacBook Pros to have mini LED displays. The analyst also said that it is highly possible that the MacBook Air will also have the same feature in 2022.
In a communiqué to investors, Ming-Chi Kuo said that Apple is likely to release two new MacBook Pro models with mini LED displays in 2021. He predicted that the rumored 14-inch MacBook Pro would arrive in 2021 with a redesigned chassis and a new mini LED display. Kuo also said that Apple might release it alongside another MacBook Pro model. He added that with the technology, it is also possible for the Cupertino-based tech giant to bring down the price tag of the MacBook Air in 2022, though he did not say whether the new MacBook Air would also have a redesigned enclosure.
While present-day LEDs are used for backlighting, they often rely on a small group of LEDs illuminating a bigger area. In the case of mini LEDs, engineers can install more of them throughout the backlighting system or layer. The result is a backlighting system with an evenly lit surface, offering better contrast levels by dimming darker sections of the screen. Such backlighting configuration allows for the creation of extremely high contrast displays, all the while relying on cost-effective LCD technology instead of shifting to the more expensive OLED. If Kuo's predictions about two new MacBook Pro models having mini LED displays in 2021 and MacBook Air in 2022 are true, then it could greatly improve the units' displays.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believes that as part of Apple's mini LED push, Apple will release a pair of new #MacBookPro models in 2021 with the technology, and a "more affordable" #MacBookAir in 2022 https://t.co/xd4XsO4jnk pic.twitter.com/qfgvZcEaBu — AppleInsider (@appleinsider) December 2, 2020
According to Kuo, while mini LED systems are a bit expensive, it will not increase the cost of products that use the technology. He added that Apple's use of its own Silicon M1 chip would offset the increase in cost of using the mini LED panels. Kuo, however, did not specify which MacBook Pro models would have mini LED displays in 2021, though he mentioned that MacBook Air would follow in 2022. The Cupertino tech giant typically sticks with a form-factor of around four to four and a half years. The form factor of the present-day MacBook Pro shipped during the second half of 2016 and until now, the 13-inch Apple Silicon MacBook Pro is still using the same form factor.
If Apple implements mini LED display technology in two of its MacBook Pro models in 2021, then the company is likely to change its form factor to adapt to the changes. It is also possible that the company will implement the same form factor changes in MacBook Pro if it will also ship with the mini LED display in 2022. Kuo also predicted that shipments of the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro will grow significantly and perhaps double in the next three years to about 30 million units each year.
