Here’s why the 11″ iPad Pro 2021 doesn’t come with a mini-LED display

The mini-LED display on the iPad Pro 2021 is described by Apple as the world’s most advanced mobile display. However, it is only available on the larger 12.9″ model while the smaller 11″ iPad still settles for an IPS-based Liquid Retina display.

Brian Tong has recently interviewed Scott Broderick of Apple’s iPad Product Marketing and Vincent Gu of Display Engineering which reveals why Apple has gone with a two-display technology approach.

When asked by Brian why the smaller model didn’t get mini-LED, Scott Broderick said:

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… 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-inch display for the iPad Pro.

You can watch the video from the 7:56 mark.

In a nutshell, Apple believes that 11″ iPad Pro buyers are looking for a powerful tablet with a compact and lightweight design. If you compare the weight, the new iPad Pro 12.9″ with mini-LED (12.9″ iPad Pro 2021 WiFi – 682g) is actually 41g heavier than the previous generation model that uses an IPS display (12.9″ iPad Pro 2020 WiFi – 641g).

Interestingly, the new 11″ iPad Pro (466g) is slightly lighter than the previous model (471g) by 5 gram. However, even if Apple decides to add a mini-LED display on the 11″ model, I believe most people would probably not mind the extra 41g weight if it provides a significantly better screen.

The new 12.9″ iPad Pro Liquid Retina XDR display offers 1000 nits in full screen brightness and up to 1600 nits of peak brightness for HDR. It uses 10,000 tiny LEDs versus just 72 LEDs on the normal Liquid Retina display. Despite still using an IPS screen, we don’t have complaints about the 11″ iPad Pro’s display. It still retains a 120Hz ProMotion screen, True Tone technology and has a 600 nits peak brightness.

You can watch our 11″ iPad Pro 2021 unboxing and hands-on video below:

The iPad Pro 2021 series is now available in Malaysia. The 11″ WiFi version is priced from RM3,499 while the 12.9″ WiFi starts from RM4,799. If you’re looking for the ultimate option, the 12.9″ WiFi + 5G model with 2TB of storage is going for RM10,399.

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