Apple Reportedly Spending $200 Million to Improve Mini-LED Production for Upcoming 14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro

[MacRumors]

Apple is taking a significant step to improve the production of mini-LED displays for its upcoming redesigned 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pros, by investing $200 million in purchasing new equipment for four brand new mini-LED assembly lines, according to a paywalled report from DigiTimes, seen by MacRumors.

According to the report, Apple will spend $200 million on procuring additional SMT or surface mounting-technology equipment to create four brand new assembly lines dedicated to mini-LED production for its upcoming MacBook Pros. The investment and purchase Apple hopes will provide an additional monthly SMT capacity of 700,000 to 800,000 mini-LED MacBook Pro devices.

The equipment that Apple is set to purchase will go to the company's main mini-LED module supplier, Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology. The report states that the equipment will be installed at TSMT'S plant in China, and citing a source, the report says that TSMT has confirmed it will be expanding capacity at its plant in Dongguan, southern China.

The new SMT machines to be purchased by Apple are likely to be installed at TSMT's plants in China, the sources said, adding that TSMT has just disclosed plans to enforce capacity expansions at its manufacturing complex in Dongguan, southern China.

Yesterday, a preview of the now published report from DigiTimes indicated that Apple is continuing to struggle with keeping up with mini-LED display demand for its 12.9-inch iPad Pro, announced this past April, and expected demand for its upcoming MacBook Pros. Apple is reportedly looking for additional mini-LED SMT suppliers, including existing supplier Radiant Opto-Electronics.

Article Link: Apple Reportedly Spending $200 Million to Improve Mini-LED Production for Upcoming 14-Inch and 16-Inch MacBook Pro

 

[farewelwilliams]

digitimes...
move along people. nothing to see here.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Don’t spend so much time “perfecting” a technology that you get behind the rest of the market.

 

[Realityck]

All this rumors about top of th line 16” MBP, how about just larger MacBooks?

 

[orbital~debris]

What exactly is surface mounting technology?

 

[Mr. Dee]

I’m waiting on OLED 16 inch MacBook Pro expected to launch in 2024.

 

[Serban55]

Don’t spend so much time “perfecting” a technology that you get behind the rest of the market.

Mini-led is the future for productivity until micro-led
And that will come after 5-6 years, hopefully

 

[Serban55]

I’m waiting on OLED 16 inch MacBook Pro expected to launch in 2024.

You will never get a mbp then.. after mini-led , micro-led will be.. but that probably after2025

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Is this the reason why it's delayed till this fall?

Two ground breaking features are coming in new Macbook's...

M1X Chip + Mini LED displays.

 

[Armada2]

Great.. another excuse to increase the price of the MacBook Pros since they need to recoup that money somehow.

 

[sinoka56]

Mini-led is the future for productivity until micro-led
And that will come after 5-6 years, hopefully

How would mini-LED improve productivity over normal LED on a laptop?

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Great.. another excuse to increase the price of the MacBook Pros since they need to recoup that money somehow.

Hopefully, the prices don't go up too high! ugh!!!

 

[noraa]

How would mini-LED improve productivity over normal LED on a laptop?

Better color reproduction for creative works and lower power requirements come immediately to mind.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Better color reproduction for creative works and lower power requirements come immediately to mind.

Don’t we have M1 chip for that?

I honestly think it’s the visual appearance from the screen.

 

[noraa]

Don’t we have M1 chip for that?

I honestly think it’s the visual appearance from the screen.

The M1 doesn’t magically make LCD displays more power efficient or have better color accuracy. There’s a drastic difference in color reproduction and local dimming with mini-LED vs traditional LCD that the M1 has absolutely nothing to do with.

 

[TheGenerous]

would I be able to run macOS on this thing?

 

[Alan Wynn]

would I be able to run macOS on this thing?

It is a Macintosh, so yes?

 

[mech986]

Great.. another excuse to increase the price of the MacBook Pros since they need to recoup that money somehow.

So if Apple sells 5M MacBook Pros each quarter on average, that would be $200M / 20M units or about $10/Mac. Yeah, they might raise the price by $50.

 

[Kierkegaarden]

I’m holding out for the yocto-LED display.

 

[mech986]

What exactly is surface mounting technology?

It’s a means of soldering very miniaturized components like resistors, capacitors, chips and other parts on printed circuit boards without resorting to component leads, through holes and individual soldering techniques. SMT has been around for 30+ years and really increases component density and utilizes Automated placement and wave soldering techniques which increases productivity and lowers overall production costs. Really came into its own with motherboards.

 

[jonnysods]

Great.. another excuse to increase the price of the MacBook Pros since they need to recoup that money somehow.

I'm hoping because they make their own processors it may even out - but I'm a little jaded on this as well.

 

[lamerica80]

Spend faster!! My POS MBP TB 2016 is on its THIRD keyboard that starting to break now...

 

[lamerica80]

What exactly is surface mounting technology?

The technology to mount things on surfaces

 

[star-affinity]

I wonder – will these displays also be capable of at least 120 Hz like on the iPad Pro? I hope so. 🙂

 

[citysnaps]

Great.. another excuse to increase the price of the MacBook Pros since they need to recoup that money somehow.

No, not an excuse. Apple doesn't run on excuses. It's called investment. And that permits creating a laptop that Apple customers want to own and ultimately purchase. Customer purchases pay the salaries and benefits of almost 150,000 Apple employees worldwide.