There have been credible rumors of a new iPad Pro coming in 2020 with a miniLED display going back to last year, but a recent investor note from analyst Jeff Pu of GF securities is suggesting the timeline may now be pushed to early 2021 (via MacRumors).
While the current global health crisis and economic climate would be reason enough, the real problem, according to Pu, is the complexity of the panel design.
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That makes it a far more interesting issue for Apple as analyst Ming-Chi Kuo just last month indicated that the company planned to release half a dozen new products with miniLED screens this year. Whether this problem would impact all of those releases or is specific to the iPad Pro is unknown.
A problem producing the displays is far less predictable than a delay brought on by manufacturing issues related to the health crisis.
We already saw MSI beat Apple to market with its miniLED laptop, the Creator 17, which is expected to start shipping this week. But Apple may be ceding MSI more time alone in the market than expected.
Naturally, it is important to remember that even the most reliable analyst isn't going to be perfect on these projections. It's possible that Apple turns this around and is able to ship by Q4 just as it's also possible that Apple never intended to ship these products this year.
Other rumors have suggested a 5G version of the iPad Pro may be coming later this year, so perhaps iPad fans still have that to look forward to.
It is safe to say that Apple has a number of miniLED display products coming, but possibly not as soon as originally planned.
