Apple iPad Pro Teardown

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2021-05-24 06:00:05

The Apple-designed M1 chip started to replace Intel processors last year in the Apple MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and also in this year’s Apple iMac. In 2020, even with the challenges of CoVid-19, the TechInsights team successfully published their analysis of the TSMC N5 FinFET process fabbed M1 from the Apple MacBook Air and MacBook Pro.

In this year’s iPad Pro, the new 12.9” mini-LED display and new TrueDepth camera system may be taking ‘Center Stage’ for many users, TechInsights will continue to look deeper for other semiconductor and design winners inside the new iPad Pro.

In this device, Apple has included two of their own PMICs, SK Hynix 1y nm 8 Gb LPDDR4X SDRAM die, Kioxia has won the NAND Flash slots, and we have also found NXP's new SN210 NFC & Secure Element IC.

The iPad Pro 12.9” is the first Apple iPad with a mini-LED display which Apple calls their Liquid Retina XDR display. The new mini-LED display is validation that LCD technology can still move forward and compete with the OLED displays. Mini-LEDs are physically smaller than the LEDs used in the typical LCD display. The mini-LED size allows for more LEDS (in theory, almost 5x more), to be used in a display design, delivering better colors. And even though there are more LEDs in a mini-LED display, mini-LED displays are said to have better power efficiency than a same size LCD display.