iPad to move to OLED by 2024
Another report suggests Apple has taken steps in its supply chain to shift the iPad lineup to OLED in 2024, and MacBook Pro by 2026.
According to a report from Korean outlet ET News, Samsung is preparing to produce dry etched OLED panels for use in Apple’s iPad. The inclusion of Samsung reflects an earlier report suggesting the company had accepted Apple’s demands for a two-layer design, and echos an older report from ET News in 2022 saying dry etched OLED was coming to iPad in 2024.
Analyst and leaker Ming-Chi Kuo had shared that OLED would be coming to MacBooks no earlier than late 2024, so a 2026 release would fit this description. Apple clearly sees a future in bringing OLED to its other products despite the impending move to micro LED. However, micro LED may be many years from being viable in anything larger than an Apple Watch, so the half-step to OLED isn’t that surprising.
ET News has hooks inside Apple’s supply chain, and is an accurate source of information as it pertains to parts and assemblies. It has a poorer track record with what Apple plans to do with those parts, and OLED manufacture is fairly generic and does not point to a specific product, given how they are generated.
