One of the highlights of the 2024 iPad Pro series is the new Ultra Retina XDR display. We have seen Apple's Liquid Retina XDR and Super Retina XDR displays, but what's different about this display? Let's find out.

What is the Ultra Retina XDR display?

Apple finally switched to OLED display on the iPad Pro model launched in 2024. The upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro model uses the Liquid Retina XDR display with mini LED technology. However, Apple does not use the familiar name Super Retina XDR on the iPhone, but a new fancy word: Ultra Retina XDR.

Apple Ultra Retina XDR

Apple's Ultra Retina XDR display is different from any other traditional OLED screen, including the screen on the iPhone. The company uses serial OLED display technology to stack two OLED panels together to achieve higher full screen brightness. M4 chip can manage the brightness and color of two panels at the same time.

Therefore, the 2024 iPad Pro can provide SDR content with a full screen brightness of 1000 nits, which is higher than the old model's 600 nits. The peak brightness of HDR content remains unchanged at 1600 nits, but OLED technology has several advantages over mini LED, which we will discuss next.

Difference between Ultra Retina XDR and Liquid Retina XDR display

If you have an iPad equipped with Liquid Retina XDR display, you may notice a blurring effect when watching white text on a black background. This effect produces a white glow around white elements, especially in high contrast scenes.

On Apple's Ultra Retina XDR display screen, this is not a problem, because OLED panel allows single pixel control, resulting in perfect black. In darker scenes, pixels are effectively turned off, significantly enhancing contrast.

In addition, OLED display has self luminous pixels, so it does not need a special backlight like LCD. This has also resulted in the slim design of the iPad Pro, which is only 5.3 mm for the 11 inch model and 5.1 mm for the 13 inch model.

The Ultra Retina XDR display also brings some other minor upgrades, such as dynamically reducing the refresh rate to 10Hz, compared with 24Hz previously. Although this should help save some electricity, do not expect it to bring about significant changes.

Is the Ultra Retina XDR better than the Ultra Retina XDR on the iPhone?

Since the iPhone 11 Pro in 2019, Apple has been using the Super Retina XDR display. But how do they compare with the new Ultra Retina XDR display?

First, the iPhone display does not use serial OLED technology. In theory, the Ultra Retina XDR display is more efficient, and can even be used for a longer time without OLED burning. This is because when the same brightness is provided, the working voltage of the two panels is lower, which means that each panel will take longer to burn out.

You won't notice how different the brightness and overall contrast are, because Apple is promoting that the contrast of iPhone 15 Pro and M4 iPad Pro is 2000000:1. The iPhone 15 Pro can reach a higher brightness of 2000 nits outdoors, and the brightness is also 1000 nits when playing SDR content.

Apple's main achievement in this regard is to maintain the same level of performance on a larger screen, which is much more difficult.

In addition to the new Ultra Retina XDR display, the 2024 iPad Pro also offers many upgrades. Although these improvements sound attractive, if you already have an iPad equipped with M-series chips, you should know that its performance is still more than enough, and upgrading may not be the best choice.