People have called for an upgrade to OLED over the years but the company has shown little interest. The reason being that Apple plans to skip the technology in favor of the newer, but not superior Mini-LED implementation it has been working on for quite some time. 

Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said in December than an iPad Pro model with the new screen would debut this year, likely alongside the iPhone 12 series. Unfortunately, analyst Jeff Pu now believes it has been delayed until 2021 because of the “complex panel design.” 

The analyst in question failed to go into detail, but the decision could have something to do with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Apple employees are currently working from home and, although some are continuing work on prototype products, workflow efficiency has likely dropped.

With a product as important as the Mini-LED iPad Pro, which would represent arguably the biggest upgrade to the lineup since 2018, Apple has probably decided that rushing the launch isn’t worth the risk.

Mini-LED could be paired with 5G and a redesign

These latest claims corroborate the information shared by tipster Jon Prosser one month ago. However, he also said Apple is planning a separate 5G iPad Pro equipped with an LCD screen and the A14X Bionic for later this year, something EDN disagrees with.

The standard iPad and iPad Mini are, however, expected to retain their existing design language and the physical home button.

Mini-LED 5G iPad Pro announcement timeline

Apple typically waits around 18 months before upgrading its iPad Pro lineup. Taking that into consideration, the earliest date for a redesigned iPad Pro complete with a Mini-LED display should be September or October 2021. However, Jeff Pu and EDN believe the tablets will make an appearance in “early 2021.”

That may seem odd, but Apple waited only 13 months between the second-gen and third-gen iPad Pro lineup announcements. Theoretically, it means the 2021 Mini-LED iPad Pro lineup could instead make an appearance at WWDC 2021 in June.