Taiwanese company Ennostar will begin production of Mini-LED backlight units for a 12.9-inch iPad Pro at the end of the first or second quarter of this year, according to industry sources cited by DigiTimes.
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Ennostar is a holding company that was jointly created in January 2021 by LED manufacturers Epistar and Lextar Electronics.
Apple is expected to launch the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro with Mini-LED backlight in the first half of this year, with Epistar serving as the exclusive supplier of Mini-LED chips that will be packaged in backlight units by Lextar, the report says. . This time period has been cited several times, with some reports limiting the launch to the first quarter, so it is possible that the new iPad Pro will be launched in March.
The new 12.9-inch iPad Pro is also expected to feature a faster A14X chip and support for 5G networks on models with cellular connectivity.
It is unclear whether Apple plans to launch a new 11-inch iPad Pro at the same time, as many rumors mentioned only the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. One possibility is that the Mini-LED backlight is limited to the 12.9-inch model, with the main new features of the 11-inch model limited to the A14X chip and 5G support, but it is not clear.
Apple is also likely to adopt the Mini-LED backlight for new MacBook models to be unveiled in the second half of this year, according to the report. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo expects new 14 and 16 inch MacBook Pro models to be launched in the second half of 2021 with a new design, the return of an HDMI port and SD card reader, the removal of Touch Bar, classic MagSafe Loading with a separable power cable and more.