Apple is expected to unveil 14- and 16-inch miniLED-backlit MacBook Pros this year with displays supplied by Radiant Opto-Electronics, according to a DigiTimes report.
Rebecca Kuo and Adam Hwang for DigiTimes:
Radiant Opto-Electronics aims to ship 2-3 million LED backlight units (BLU) for use in automotive dashboards of about 10 inches in 2021, with Europe-based automakers to be main clients, according to industry sources.
Apple is expected to unveil 14- and 16-inch miniLED-backlit MacBook Pro models in second-half 2021, with Radiant to be the exclusive supplier of BLUs and Quanta Computer to be an OEM, the sources noted.
Radiant expects shipments for BLUs used in tablets and notebooks in first-quarter 2021 to slip 10% and 15-20% respectively on quarter. Consequently, first-quarter 2021 consolidated revenues will decrease 15% sequentially but hike 60-70% on year. It has obtained orders with shipments scheduled until April 2021.
MacDailyNews Take: Costs for miniLED backlighting is at least 20-30% higher than that for regular LED backlighting, but, for Apple’s Macs, the company will be enjoying significant savings by upgrading to Apple Silicon, offsetting the higher miniLED costs.
Apple is also expected to launch miniLED iPad Pro models this year. We’ll be interested to see how Apple handles Mini LED iPad Pro pricing which have always run on ARM-based silicon.
In December 2019, Ming-Chi Kuo reiterated that Apple was planning four to six products with mini-LED displays over the next two to three years.