Certain Apple iPad Models Rumoured To Be Fitted With OLED, Not LED Displays

The iPad already received a significant glow up (literally) this year with its 12.9-inch model debuting Apple’s mini-LED display. Now there are rumours that Apple is planning to adopt OLED displays for some of next year’s iPad models.

According to a report by ETNews, Apple and multiple display companies have agreed on the production and delivery of OLED iPad displays starting in 2022 as “the small and medium-sized OLED market is expected to enter the second growth phase”. This is in line with the contents of the research note from reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in March that said that the 2022 iPad Air will feature an OLED display.

Kuo pointed out that although Apple would adopt Mini-LED displays for the new iPad Pro, other tablet models would switch to OLED displays, beginning with the iPad Air next year. Mini-LED and OLED panels are similarly revered for their ability to display deeper blacks, though the former does not suffer from the issue of burn-in, such as the latter. Kuo stated that it is for that specific reason that Apple has no plans to bring OLED to its productivity devices.

Since the OLED displays for the upcoming iPad will be flat — unlike the custom iPhone panels folded at the bottom — it will cost less than the expensive mini-LED panels. It should be noted that while the new iPad’s mini-LED display tops out at 1,600 nits peak brightness, the iPhone 12 Pro’s OLED only reaches 1,200 nits.

Xiaomi Reportedly Working On Three New Premium Tablet Models

Chinese tech brand Xiaomi is reportedly working on new premium tablet models, according to leakster Kacper Skrzpek (@kacskrz) via XDA. With the last product from that category being the Mi Pad 4 series (pictured above) back in 2018, the company seemingly had stopped releasing newer tablets ever since.

The leakster claims that data regarding three new Xiaomi tablets were discovered in the alpha build of MIUI Home 12.5. All three were listed under code names inspired by ancient Mesopotamian myths such as “nabu”, “enuma” and “elish”. 

Upon further research, Skrzpek found that “nabu” – which features a model number ending in K82 – will be powered by Qualcomm’s SM8150 platform. This could mean that the tablet could feature a Snapdragon 855 or 860 series chipset. It will also feature a 8,720mAh battery, the leakster added. Being the only device listed to have the aforementioned model number, it is believed that “nabu” will be an independent tablet from the latter two.

Speaking of which, “enuma” and “elish” is said to feature the model numbers K81 and K81A respectively, which suggests that the duo may be part of a series. Unlike “nabu”, the leakster revealed both tablets will feature Qualcomm’s SM8250 SoC platform – possibly the Snapdragon 865 or 870 models. “Enuma” is noted to also feature LTE or 5G connectivity.

In terms of display, Skrzpek says that all three devices will come with IPS LCD screens with 2560 x 1600 px resolution, 16:10 aspect ratios and 120Hz refresh rates. Size-wise, “nabu” is said to feature a 10.97-inch diagonal display but unfortunately, no information regarding the screen size for “enuma” and “elish” were provided.

While the possibility of Xiaomi taking another jab at the tablet market sounds interesting, we still can’t disregard the chances of this information of being inaccurate. Regardless, the company will definitely announce these new devices in the near future, should this leak be proven true in the end.

Huawei Is Set To Launch Five New MateBook Models In Malaysia

It was only back in February that Huawei had released a new MateBook model into our market. As it turns out, more are on their way to Malaysia real soon as the company has recently revealed the list of 2021 MateBook laptops that it will launch next week.

One of them is the 2021 MateBook D 14 which looked exactly like the MateBook D 14 Intel Edition that Huawei has just launched in Malaysia less than two months ago. In fact, the 2021 variant is still powered by the same Intel Core i5-10210U processor.

However, the variant that is coming to Malaysia will no longer carry the NVIDIA MX250 GPU though. Instead, it will rely on the integrated Intel UHD Graphics 620 GPU.

The 2021 MateBook D 14 continues to feature a 14-inch Full HD IPS display, and 512GB solid state drive but the laptop does have more RAM than its 2020’s counterpart at 16GB and it also supports Wi-Fi 6 too. Additionally, the 2021 model also features a dual thermal heatsink if the picture on Huawei’s site is to be believed.

In a rather curious decision, Huawei has also decided to bring two versions of the 2021 MateBook D 15 into Malaysia. One is being powered by an Intel Core i5-10210U processor while another is equipped with an Intel Core i5-1135G7 although both laptops still feature 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD.

On paper, the 11th Gen version of the laptop has a slight advantage in terms of having newer hardware and the support for Wi-Fi 6. Other than that, another major difference is likely their respective price tags although this will only be known next week.

Moving on, another new model on the list is the 2021 MateBook 14 which also carries the Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor. Equipped with a QHD touch display, Wi-Fi 6 support alongside 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD are once again standards on this 1.5kg laptop.

The fifth new 2021 MateBook model that Huawei will launch in Malaysia next week is its flagship MateBook X Pro. Launched in China earlier this year, Huawei has decided to let go of NVIDIA GeForce MX graphics from this year’s model and has opted to use the integrated Intel Iris Xe Graphics within the Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor in the laptop.

Aside from the new 11th Gen Intel Core processor and Wi-Fi 6 support, the 2021 model is generally identical to its 2020’s predecessor. This includes the 13.9-inch 3:2 aspect ratio touch display with 3000 x 2000 resolution together with its sleek metal chassis.

As stated earlier, Huawei has promised to unveil more information regarding these new 2021 MateBook laptops next week. If you are interested, do stay tuned for their launch day on 19 April for further details.