Key Takeaways

• Ultra Retina XDR is Apple’s fancy word for its tandem OLED display technology introduced in the 2024 iPad Pro models.
• Unlike traditional OLED displays, the iPad Pros stack two OLED panels together to achieve a higher full-screen brightness.
• Ultra Retina XDR is an improvement over the Liquid Retina XDR display on the older 12.9-inch iPad Pro, but it’s on par with the Super Retina XDR display on iPhones.

One of the highlighting features of the 2024 iPad Pro lineup is the all-new Ultra Retina XDR display. We’re already seen Apple’s Liquid Retina XDR and Super Retina XDR displays, but what sets this one apart? Let’s find out.

What Is an Ultra Retina XDR Display?

Apple finally switched to OLED displays for its 2024 iPad Pro models. The outgoing 12.9-inch iPad Pro model featured a Liquid Retina XDR display that used mini-LED technology. However, instead of the Super Retina XDR moniker we’re familiar with on iPhones, Apple has a new fancy word: Ultra Retina XDR.

Apple’s Ultra Retina XDR display is unlike any other traditional OLED screen—including the one on iPhones. The company uses tandem OLED display technology, where two OLED panels are stacked on top of each other to achieve a higher full-screen brightness. The M4 chip manages the brightness and colors of both panels simultaneously.

As a result, the 2024 iPad Pros can deliver 1,000 nits of full-screen brightness for SDR content, up from 600 nits on the outgoing model. Peak brightness for HDR content remains the same at 1,600 nits, but OLED technology offers several benefits over mini-LED, which we’ll discuss next.

How Ultra Retina XDR Differs From Liquid Retina XDR Displays

If you own an iPad with a Liquid Retina XDR display, you may have noticed a blooming effect when viewing white text against a black background. This effect creates a white halo around white elements, especially in high-contrast scenes.

This is not an issue on Apple’s Ultra Retina XDR displays, as OLED panels allow individual pixel control, resulting in perfect blacks. In darker scenes, the pixels effectively turn off, significantly enhancing contrast.

Furthermore, OLED displays have self-emitting pixels, so they don’t need a dedicated backlight like LCDs. This contributes to the iPad Pro’s slim design, measuring just 5.3mm for the 11-inch model and 5.1mm for the 13-inch model.

The Ultra Retina XDR display brings some other minor upgrades, like dynamically lowering the refresh rate to 10Hz compared to the previous 24Hz. While this should help save some power, don’t expect it to make a significant difference.

Is Ultra Retina XDR Better Than Super Retina XDR on iPhones?

Apple has been using Super Retina XDR displays since the iPhone 11 Pro in 2019. But how do they compare to the new Ultra Retina XDR display?

For starters, iPhone displays don’t use tandem OLED technology. Theoretically, the Ultra Retina XDR display is more efficient and may even last longer without experiencing OLED burn-in. That’s because the two panels effectively work at a lower voltage while providing the same brightness, meaning it will take longer for each panel to experience burn-in.

You won’t notice much difference in brightness and overall contrast, as Apple advertises the same 2,000,000:1 contrast for both the iPhone 15 Pro and the M4 iPad Pro. The iPhone 15 Pro can achieve a higher brightness of 2,000 nits outdoors and has the same 1,000 nits brightness for SDR content.

Apple’s major achievement here is maintaining the same level of performance with a larger screen, which is far more challenging.

The 2024 iPad Pro offers many upgrades besides the all-new Ultra Retina XDR display. While these advancements sound tempting, if you already have an iPad with an M-series chip, know that it’s still more than capable, and upgrading might not be the best idea.