Apple's New Year's Conference is coming, Mini LED may be launched with AirTag

Since the news of chip shortages broke out in the industry in the second half of last year, "chip shortages" have become a difficult problem for many companies. There were rumors online before that "chip panic" is a touchstone. Whoever can get enough chips at this time is a good company that is ahead of the trend.

However, as the chip shortage spreads, Apple, the world's leading consumer electronics company, has recently been unable to get enough chips. According to Nikkei Asia, due to the global shortage of parts, the production of some MacBooks and iPads has been delayed. The most powerful evidence of this news is that Apple's new product launch conference, which is usually held in March every year, did not arrive as scheduled. This also indirectly shows that even a company like Apple, which has strong control over the supply chain, cannot remain immune to this "chip shortage wave."

However, with Apple's official announcement that the "Spring Festival Gala" will kick off on April 21, Beijing time, the above-mentioned parts shortage problem may have been solved. But what is the reason for the late arrival of this grand event, and what impact will it have on the supply chain? What will be the highlights of the Spring Festival conference?

The global chip panic has put Apple in a difficult position

The chip shortage problem is long-standing and has previously troubled the normal production of automobiles around the world. Tesla, NIO and others have been affected. The two companies have previously suspended production for several days, and due to the suspension of production, their vehicle deliveries have declined.

Now, the pressure of "chip shortage" has also come to Apple. Previously, the news that Apple would hold a spring conference on March 24th, Beijing time, had been widely circulated on the Internet. However, this much-anticipated conference was not held as scheduled. It is understood that due to the shortage of parts supply, the new products that were supposed to be released in March were forced to be postponed to April.

According to Nikkei Asia, the chip shortage has caused delays in a key step in the MacBook production process, which is to install components on printed circuit boards before final assembly. At the same time, some iPad assembly has been delayed due to a lack of displays and display components. Due to this delay, Apple has postponed some component orders for both devices from the first half of this year to the second half.

Currently, the screen of iPad Air is LCD, while the new iPad Pro is expected to be equipped with Mini LED screen. However, according to industry insiders, the main reason for the delay of iPad release is probably the yield rate of Mini LED products, which are currently supplied by Epistar.

Previously, an analyst from TrendForce told the author that Lejing Micro, a joint venture established by Epistar and Leyard, has been delivering goods to Apple. After all, TSMC has been cooperating with Apple for a long time. Although its yield rate was not good before, it has improved now. It is still uncertain which company's products Apple will use in the end.

Ming-Chi Kuo of TF Securities has predicted that Apple's iPad Pro will use Mini LED screens, and Apple has invested a lot of resources in the development and production of Mini LED, which has a key strategic position in the medium and long term. Therefore, if the release of the new iPad Pro is delayed due to the shortage of display-related components, its related supply chain may also be affected.

However, a person close to Changying Precision told the author that orders from major overseas customers are relatively stable and have not been affected, and the total amount of orders has not changed. In addition, the delivery time has not changed since the Spring Festival.

Changying Precision is the supplier of structural parts for iPad, MacBook, etc.

When asked whether the delay in the spring launch was due to a chip shortage, the person involved said that even if there was a chip shortage, with their ability to source goods, solving this problem would not be a problem.

As far as I know, Apple now sells about 200 million iPhones, more than 20 million MacBooks, 19 million iPads and more than 70 million pairs of Air Pods each year, and ranks among the top five in the world in their respective product areas, making the company one of the most powerful purchasing companies in the world.

Overall, the postponement of Apple's spring conference this year was caused by multiple factors; however, its strong supply chain management and bargaining power also helped Apple solve the problem in a very short time, and the spring conference arrived one month later.

Mini LED and AirTag may become the biggest highlights

Although Apple's "Spring Festival Gala" comes a little later than in previous years, it will not be absent; and this conference will be full of highlights, and it may be one of the more eye-catching ones in recent years.

First of all, the much-anticipated Mini LED may be officially unveiled at this spring conference. Previously, Tianfeng Ming-Chi Kuo and various brokerages have pointed out that the new iPad Pro and the new MacBook will be equipped with Mini LED screens.

With the emergence of new products this year, consumer demand is also continuing to grow. It is a foregone conclusion that the new iPad Pro equipped with Mini LED backlight technology will be released at the spring conference. According to TrendForce's forecast, the new iPad Pro is expected to use 10,384 Mini LEDs to achieve high contrast and high color saturation, and can also achieve more detailed display and the most subtle color reproduction.

In addition, the size of the Mini LED backlight beads is only 1/40 of that of traditional LCDs, which enables the screen to have better zone light control capabilities and greatly improves the screen's contrast and peak brightness.

However, as far as I know, the Mini LED screen will only be used on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and may not be available on the 11-inch one.

In addition to Mini LED, the 5nm A14X processor (or the most powerful mobile chip on the planet) is expected to be comparable to the M1 chip in terms of performance. It is also likely to appear on the new iPad Pro, with a 30-40% improvement in CPU performance over the A12X. This will be a qualitative leap for the iPad Pro, after all, the 2020 iPad Pro and the 2018 iPad Pro are almost the same in terms of performance.

Another product that has the potential to become a phenomenal product is AirTag, which may really be coming this time. Since it appeared in the iOS 13.2 system file at the end of last year, AirTag has been called the "anti-loss artifact" and has attracted the attention of countless people.

From the current point of view, AirTag not only has tracking function, but also comes in a button-like style, so that it can be attached to important items, and it is waterproof. It is also expected to support Bluetooth and UWB technology, which also gives AirTag extremely high positioning accuracy, further enhancing the item search function of iPhone and iPad, which is perfectly in line with its own functions.

If AirTag supports UWB technology, it can also play a vital role in Apple's smart home products. Devices equipped with the U1 chip can achieve more convenient operations through data transmission, which greatly facilitates the daily interaction of different Apple hardware. Therefore, AirTag may play a relatively important role in Apple's ecosystem.

Finally, according to past practice, MacBooks are generally launched in the second half of the year. Therefore, the sequel to the M1 chip that "exploded" the entire technology circle last year, the M2 chip, will most likely not appear at this press conference due to the current shortage of important components, and will be postponed to October.

Overall, although the press conference has been postponed to April, this year's spring press conference is still quite promising. Whether it is the iPad Pro equipped with a Mini LED screen or AirTag, they are both quite attractive. All we have to do next is wait for the arrival of a large wave of new products.