One of the standout features of the 2021 iPad Pro is the Liquid Retina XDR display, but it’s only found on the 12.9-inch model. Now in a new interview, Scott Broderick of worldwide iPad product marketing and Vincent Gu of the display engineering team have shared more about the challenges of the new mini-LED XDR display, why it didn’t land on the 11-inch iPad Pro, and much more.
Brian Tong sat down with Broderick and Gu for a wide-ranging interview focused on the 2021 M1 iPad Pro. One of the interesting questions many have been wondering about is why Apple kept the new Liquid Retina XDR display for just the 12.9-inch models.
Here’s what Broderick had to say:
The 12.9-inch iPad Pro is 0.5mm thicker and a touch heavier than its predecessor due to the new Liquid Retina XDR display. So Broderick seems to be alluding to the idea that it wouldn’t have been popular with 11-inch iPad Pro users to get a slightly thicker and heavier device.
What we know about the 11-inch user is that they just love bringing a super-powerful iPad with them in a portable 1-pound design. So 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 it made sense to bring that XDR technology to the 12.9-inch display on the iPad Pro.
However, another aspect of this is that Apple is believed to be facing trouble with supply constraints and yields of the brand-new display.
- Here’s how the new iPad Pro compares to the 2020 iPad Pro
- M1 iPad Pro reviews: Stunning Liquid Retina XDR display, but iPadOS limitations persist
Other interesting pieces of the interview include Gu talking about the technical challenges of creating and manufacturing the new XDR display for iPad Pro, discussion around the new Center Stage camera feature, and more.
Check out the full interview below:
