MacBook Pro 2021 models could get stunning mini-LED screens

MacBook pro
(Image credit: Future)

We've keenly awaited the announcement of a 14-inch and 16-inch M1 MacBook Pro since the initial Apple Silicon was revealed back in late 2020, and the latest rumors suggest both models will feature the same mini-LED display seen in the recently announced M1 powered iPad Pro.

DigiTimes reports that Apple supplier Global Lighting Technologies will begin shipping its mini-LED display components for the next-gen MacBook Pro models in Q3 of 2021, so while we may still see both of these long-rumored models announced at Apple WWDC 2021 on June 7, the actual products may not hit the shelves until sometime in 2022.

Mini-LED M1 MacBooks

On top of a gloriously bright new display, we anticipate that the 16-inch MacBook Pro will get a design refresh with smaller bezels given that this is one of Apple's best-selling products and hasn't had a redesign since 2019.

It's also been suggested that not only will both of these two MacBook Pro models get Apple's silicon rather than 11th-gen Intel processors, but potentially a beefed-up unreleased M1X chip rather than the existing M1. As the M1 is currently in almost every refreshed Apple computing device, it wouldn't make much sense to have a professional-grade laptop with the same processor as the current MacBook Air.

The current M1 chip isn't powerful enough to run demanding VFX or video editing software at the levels required by industry professionals, so rumors of a new, more powerful system-on-a-chip (or SoC) definitely hold some weight.

Other rumored alterations to the larger MacBook Pro models are an HDMI port, an SD card slot, a magnetic power cable and the possibility of the love-it-or-hate-it Touchbar being replaced by physical keys. The inclusion of a mini-LED display would also greatly benefit people in a creative field with its increased brightness and color accuracy, but all we have to go on right now is speculation so we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves until an official announcement is made by Apple. 

Via WCCFTech

Jess Weatherbed

Jess is a former TechRadar Computing writer, where she covered all aspects of Mac and PC hardware, including PC gaming and peripherals. She has been interviewed as an industry expert for the BBC, and while her educational background was in prosthetics and model-making, her true love is in tech and she has built numerous desktop computers over the last 10 years for gaming and content creation. Jess is now a journalist at The Verge.