Apple plans to make an aggressive push adding mini-LED displays to its products in 2020, according to one of the most reliable Apple analysts in the game.
TF International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo updated his forecast for Apple’s mini-LED product roadmap Tuesday, saying that the company is working on four more mini-LED products than we originally knew about — including a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro.
Mini-LED is an up-and-coming display technology that uses super-tiny LEDs for backlighting, supporting more than a thousand different lighting zones. This offers better contrast and deeper blacks than other displays. The technology could be better and cheaper than OLED displays and it sounds like Apple is ready to go all-in on it.
Apple’s mini-LED plans
In a note to investors obtained by Cult of Mac, Kuo predicts Apple is currently developing six mini-LED products. The list includes the rumored 12.9-inch iPad Pro and 16-inch MacBook Pro that we knew about already. Apple is also working on a 27-inch iMac Pro, 10.2-inch iPad, 7.9-inch iPad mini and a 14.1-inch MacBook Pro all with mini-LEd displays, according to Kuo.
The 14.1-inch MacBook Pro would reportedly be an upgrade from the current 13.3-inch model. It’s likely that the footprint of the device largely stays the same, with thinner bezels on the screen. Apple hasn’t updated the iMac Pro since 2017, but Kuo says the mini-LED update is coming at the end of 2020. Most of the other mini-LED products should come out by the end of 2020 or in 2021.
Kuo predicts that Apple will spend big on mini-LED components over the next few years. He estimates Cupertino will pay about $180 million to LED chip providers in 2020. That number is expected to balloon to around $1.4 billion in 2020.
