9.7-Inch iPad Pro Analysis Reveals It Boasts the Best Mobile LCD Panel Available Today

Apple is certainly not bashful when it comes to touting that its products feature the best-in-its-class or first-of-its-kind technology. After all, such was the case, just recently, when, at the company’s March 21st “Let Us Loop you In” special media event, CEO Tim Cook went on record indicating that the 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s new ‘True Tone’ display is “the best display we’ve ever created.”

Well that’s a bold claim to make, Mr. Cook — and even more so about an LCD panel that, to the naked eye, hasn’t changed much over the several years.

However, as a recent analysis by DisplayMate technician, Ray Soneira, points out, the 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s display truly is one of the greatest displays that money can buy right now. Boasting double the color gamuts, increased brightness, lower sunlight reflectivity, and a first-of-its-kind True Tone color shifting technology, the Retina display on Apple’s new 9.7-inch iPad Pro is not only the best in its class, but, as Soneira’s analysis concludes, “it’s the best performing mobile LCD on the market, period.”

When compared, side-by-side, with the huge 12.9-inch panel on Apple’s larger iPad Pro, Soneira walked away realizing that the smaller iPad Pro easily takes the cake when it comes to the following accomplishments:

For starters, the smaller iPad Pro boasts the highest absolute color accuracy, the lowest display reflectivity of any LCD display, and the highest peak brightness of any full-size tablet currently available. It also features the highest ambient lighting/contrast ratio rating, as well as the most minimal amount of color variation at each viewing angle.

As a matter of fact, Soneira’s analysis reveals that the 9.7-inch iPad Pro outdoes the 12.9-incher in pretty much every possible category. The only place, as he mentions, where the 9.7-incher falls short is when it all boils down to “black luminance” — a feature responsible for rendering a high contrast ratio in darker viewing environments.

When it comes to the all-new True Tone display technology, Soneira didn’t mince words when he lauded how Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad Pro delivers an absolutely authentic, “paper white” viewing experience — brought to us by a set of new four-channel ambient light sensors, which measure brightness and color temperature to adjust the display in accordance with the brightness of our imminent viewing environment.

“When we turned on True Tone under incandescent lighting with a Color Temperature of about 3,000K, the Color Temperature of the iPad Pro 9.7 White Point shifted from 6,945K to 5,500K, which is quite noticeable and visually significant, but it doesn’t come close to matching the color of reflected light from white paper. The color change with ambient light may be better for reading text on the screen’s white background,” Soneira concluded.

Soneira also noted that he hopes to see similar display technology make its way onto future iterations of Apple’s iPhone and future iPad models, and that the iPhone 7 is “highly likely” to be the first contender to receive the upgrade.

Learn More: iOS 9.3.2 Beta Released, Here’s What to Expect

What are your thoughts on the 9.7-inch iPad Pro’s display? Let us know what you think in the comments below!