M1 chipset. Many RAM. 5G. Thunderbolt support. All of this helps make Apple new, iPad 12.9 inch pro tablets that are almost stable, which seems well equipped to compete with more traditional laptops. (Well, separate from the limitations of iPados.) But if there is one area where iPad Pro clearly defeats the entire Apple portable computer, it is a new screen tablet.
To learn a little about what is needed to build a Retina XDR liquid screen, Engadget talking with Vincent Gu, a senior engineering manager for Apple Displays, and spokesman for the iPad Marketing Scott Broderick, who quickly claim it is “the absolute best look we can enter the iPad Pro 12.9 inches, “Broderick said.
While some people can be justified thinking that the OLED display as seen in the Apple iPhone 12 series might be even more impressive, Broderick has a point: this is a damned handsome screen.
But first, we have to break the name. As I mentioned in our iPad pro review, “liquid” bit refers to the fact that this is actually an LCD screen, which – unlike the OLED display found on the new iPhone and other upscale mobile devices – depending on the small bevel backlight for the right -Tar makes the screen visible. “Retina” is a little classic apple marketing fluff marketing, which has been used by the company to refer to its cellphone display since the days of iPhone 4. And the “XDR” section is not only intended to generate an expensive apple image, high-travel monitor – this refers to a dynamic range “Extreme” screen.
In the end, what made this look very interesting was not the size – it was 12.9 inches as before – or the facts were refreshed at 120Hz. No, it’s all because of the components that you can’t even see directly: a new backlighting system consisting of more than 10,000 super-small LEDs, divided into 2,596 local dimming zones. (If you maintain a count, Apple $ 5,000, 6K Pro displays the XDR monitor only has 576 dimming zones.)
The idea is quite simple: by making light sources smaller, Apple can better match them behind the rest of the LCD panel layer, allowing more precise control over which part of the screen pealed at a certain time. This is a sufficient standard concept in the TV world, with TCL, Samsung, and LG each with their own branded version. However, for what value, Apple confirmed that the mini mini-LED backlighting system was designed entirely at home.
“The mini LED that we put into the XDR liquid retina is a technology that is truly specially designed, Apple-proprietary,” Gu said, which recorded that they were more than a hundred times smaller than used in the iPad Pro last year. There was nothing surprising, carefully setting thousands of LEDs was an important obstacle, one Apple only managed to clean thanks to engineers specifically designed manufacturing equipment and made their own special solder.
“We have to provide special equipment to be able to put this more than 10,000 mini LEDs with accuracy that doesn’t exist before us,” said Spokesman Ipad Broderick. (Who said, Apple refused to tell us how small each mini LED action, or how long to produce a single liquid XDR Retina screen.)
Outside the lighting system, GU also said the switch to the Mini LED requires Apple to re-engineer the core components of the pile of views, including optical movies and diffusers that help control the flow of light and distribute them evenly throughout the panel. And then, apple design and manufacturing engineers must take a new screen package, physically larger and grilling it into a kind of device that has been identical to portability. In other words, the whole process is … a kind of pain.
This is a good thing for company engineers, then, that the mini-LED screen is said to remain an important part of the iPad Pro experience for a while. But that is not to say other changes are not in the off. Apple Ming-Chi Analyst Kuo suggested in a recent note that Apple can switch to the use of OLED Display – which is known for their inner black and very clear colors – in the iPad air on the following year. (For what value, Broderick and Gu will not confirm whether Apple has contemplated using the OLED panel on the iPad Pro)
As far as technical achievement, building the appearance of liquid XDR retina is not a small achievement. But is it actually better to see? To answer it, allow me to digest a moment.
One time, at the Apple launch event, I submitted “Oh, Damn!” A little too hard while Phil Schiller explained some aspects of the new iPhone camera. Some people around me titled; My editor of funds seemed uninterested. I don’t have another Apple moment “Oh Damn” until I put the iPad Pro this year next to last year’s model and turn on the beautiful video guide from Morocco in both. The difference is immediately clear, and visceral.
In the picture above, the iPad Pro 2020 is on the left and the 2021 model sits on the right. Both of them have the screen they rotate to the brightness of max, and while my photo does not really do the look of justice, it is quite clear which iPad has the advantage. Pro last year has a maximum brightness of 600 nits, which is not bad – it’s a lot for outdoor use. Most of the time, the new Pro maximizes 600 nits too, which means users will struggle to see differences at all when reading, explore the web, reply to emails, and other basic tablet tasks.
Even so, what is needed is just a quick trip to Youtube or the main video to see what all the commotion is. After the video starts playing (or the launch of the game, in this case), the full screen brightness of the screen display rises up to 1,000 nits, while the specific section of the screen can take up to 1,600 nits. Long story short, Retina XDR fluid displays more granular control over lighting means objects that should look dark so, and things that are intended to be bright (think of explosions or striking visual effects) more than usual.
It’s good news for creators of content, filmmakers, and other creative professionals Apple has historically mastered with the highest tip tablet. “Many pros has forgiven their workflows to support HDR and we are right with them,” Broderick said. It’s also good news for people who take their videos and films very seriously – or at least, people who demand a very good look while traveling.