Mini-LED vs OLED in Apple products: Why you should be excited! Technology is evolving. And with it, are the tools we use to interact with the world. Displays are an integral part of any device. And while OLED displays may be the best display around, this Mini-LED vs OLED comparison pits the underdog against the industry dominator. Increasing reports are suggesting that Apple is planning to adopt a new Mini-LED display for future iPads and MacBooks. It got me thinking… Why isn’t Apple planning on using OLED instead? There’s a simple answer. Producing OLED displays isn’t cheap for bigger screens like the ones on the MacBook and the iPad. Plus there are additional manufacturing complexities that deter Apple from using OLED in devices with a larger display. But, since OLED is a hard choice, in this case, there is an alternative that the Cupertino giant can use in its MacBook and iPad that closely compares to it. Here’s how good is Mini-LED vs OLED in this extensive, in-depth comparison between the two display technologies. I’ll also explain why it’s better for Apple to use Mini-LED in MacBooks and iPads later on in this article. Let’s get to it! Table Of Contents Here’s a “Table of Contents” for better navigation inside this post. OLED has been around for some time now. Apple first used the display technology in its Apple Watch back in 2015. Then, in 2017, it came toiPhones with the iPhone X. Apple uses an OLED display even in its higher-end MacBook Pro models in the form of a slim rectangular strip meant to replace regular function keys, known as TouchBar. Displays with OLED technology have certain benefits over traditional IPS LCD panels Apple uses in the iPad, the MacBook, and the iPhones before iPhone X. MacBook Pro 2020 having an IPS LCD panel AKA Retina Display. Source: Apple In the frontend, they provide exceptional image quality and can get brighter than LCD displays. OLED-equipped devices also provide better viewing angles and an amazing contrast ratio. More on that later. In the backend, OLED displays are well-known for being flexible and allow better power consumption capabilities among other benefits. This isn’t to say, however, that these crisp displays don’t suffer from caveats. Production difficulties and a dual monopoly are two. Despite that, OLED has been prevalent for years. It’s going to be a while before Mini-LED becomes widespread In comparison, Mini-LED is a relatively new technology that hasn’t seen mass adoption yet. People are still getting accustomed to the idea of Mini-LED-equipped devices. TCL is the first company that uses Mini-LED displays in its TVs—specifically the 8-Series. And there is some time before the tech appears in portable devices. That said, OLEDs have a slight advantage when it comes to small displays, but using them in relatively larger displays like the iPad and MacBook isn’t financially feasible. This is why using a new technology that is cheaper than OLED but better than traditional LCD panels makes sense. While OLED is overall better than Mini-LED in terms of viewing angles and contrast, in this Mini-LED vs OLED comparison, the former does hold some weight over the latter. And so, it has the potential of ending up in future iPads and MacBooks. Note: Before we begin, you must learn that OLED displays on TVs are quite different from OLED displays on phones, tablets, and laptops. So some aspects of OLED on an LG TV won’t mean the same on a MacBook or an iPad. Which products will Apple launch with a Mini-LED display in 2021? Before we begin explaining the amazing new display technology, it’s exciting to learn Apple’s plans regarding the inclusion of Mini-LED displays in its products coming this year and the years after. Apple is very secretive about its future product releases. It’s a company that likes to surprise its customers instead of simply selling them the product. However, thanks to various sources, we’ve got some valuable insights into what Apple is planning. Let me start off with the fact that 2021 is going to be an interesting year for Mini-LED displays. According to acclaimed analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple will ship around 10-12 million units of Apple products with Mini-LED displays in 2021. A majority of that number is going to be credited to the upcoming MacBook Pro slated to ship with a Mini-LED display. It will be the first Apple device to adopt the new display technology. While that is an interesting fact on its own, those MacBooks Pros are expected to come in two different screen sizes—16-inch and 14-inch. These new MacBook models are expected to launch in the second-half of 2021. Apple was planning to launch a Mini-LED iPad by the end of 2020, however its plans were delayed due to the impact of coronavirus on its supply chain. However, according to supply-chain publication DigiTimes, Apple is now planning to launch a 12.9-inch Mini-LED iPad Pro in the first quarter of 2021. As for the MacBook Air, rumors indicate Apple is planning to release a Mini-LED version of it in 2022. What is LED? LED displays have been around for more than two decades. It is the kind of technology that was so efficient in terms of delivering what the users wanted, that the display industry didn’t feel the need to actively look out for alternatives. With the evolution of tech, however, and the market’s increasing demands for a shift in display technology fueled by the evident limitations of LED displays, the lookout for a new display technology became essential. Nevertheless, before learning about LED displays, it is important to know how individual LEDs work. Individual Red, Green, and Blue LED lights. Source: Wikipedia LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) are semiconductors that light up when an electric current is passed through them. I’m going to go a little more in detail here but trust me, it’s crucial to this explanation. LEDs produce light when electrons and holes (particles that carry current) meet together. Different colors are then produced thanks to the energy of the photons that are determined by the separation of bands containing the electrons and holes in the first place. Then, the amount of photon energy decides the wavelength of the light emitted giving out its color. LED Displays or “LED-lit LCD Displays” An LED display binds hundreds of such LEDs together to form a panel. The panel is then placed behind an LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) panel to provide the backlight. The anatomy of an LED display. Source: BT It’s a common misconception that an LED display is different than an LCD display. The truth is that an LED display simply does not exist by itself. Any TV or smartphone manufacturer that says their product has an LED display is hiding the fact that it’s technically an LCD display with an LED backlight panel supporting it. As DigitalTrends notes in its “LED vs LCD TVs” article, the proper name for an LED TV would be an “LED-lit LCD TV.” It’s a simple combination, though. While the LCD panel reproduces color, the LED panel shines a light on it to reflect the colors. Neither of the panels alone can produce an image on a screen. The architecture of an LED-backlit LCD display is complicated, however. The LCD panel, besides the color gamut, involves two sheets of polarizing material that have a liquid crystal solution between them. The solution aligns the crystals in a pattern that allows the backlight to either get through or completely block it when electricity is provided. Then, once the polarizer controls the intensity of light by blocking some of it, whatever’s remaining hits the color panel containing the color pixels, also known as the color gamut. That light gets filtered by the red, green, and blue elements in the gamut and forms an image on the screen in front of your eyes. The quality of an image thus produced depends upon a combination of factors including image processing, the kind of gamut the LCD panel has, localized dimming, the size of individual LEDs, drive electronics, and their mechanical design. That said, the size of an individual LED in an LED backlight panel is key in determining the kind of image quality you perceive. It affects the pitch of the pixels which then leads to a resulting resolution—an important factor for image quality. By Kprateek88 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons However, since the LCD panel includes a filter that blocks light in individual pixels by applying an electric field to each pixel; and since a filter isn’t the best solution for blocking light entirely when needed, LED-lit LCDs cannot achieve true blacks. Instead, you may notice a dark gray tint. LED displays, thus, are power-hungry as they need to illuminate a backlight irrespective of the state of the active screen. This backlight, moreover, needs to be smartly controlled in order to dissipate heat correctly and conserve battery power. It isn’t a major concern for TVs, but in portable devices like the MacBook Pro that require a battery to function, optimizing power consumption matters a lot. Traditional LCD vs OLED displays In comparison with OLED, LED displays offer better HDR capabilities and an overall better color reproduction because of two reasons: support for wider color gamuts and increased brightness.