MacBook Air With OLED Display Reportedly Delayed

[HobeSoundDarryl]

My wife's ASUS laptop has a 16" 1920x1200 OLED display and it cost $500 less than a MBA.
So ordinary OLED displays aren't expensive.

This is not how Apple thinks. Which is more profitable? Will embracing more expensive OLED be appealing enough to make up for the cut to profit by not sticking with the "as is"?

ASUS doesn't chase Apple's sky high margin. Thus, they can put great value into lower-priced offerings. Apple is almost at pocketing 50¢ of every $1 paid towards their wares. 50%!!! In pursuit of "another record quarter," they are focused on cutting costs and/or raising prices to fatten that margin and pocket more, more, more!

A more expensive display technology won't cut costs. Will it allow them to charge more for it? Maybe? Do we want even higher prices? They are already priced relatively high as you point out.

Will enough units of an OLED MBair sell to make up for the added cost of including OLED with all that sell... and then some?

Why the ever loving **** is apple so slow to adopt more advanced display tech these days. This is the company that gave us High PPI displays with the iPhone 4 and the retina macbook pros and now they can't be bothered to provide us with higher refresh rate displays or OLED in laptops until 2029? Absolutely insane.

This Apple is focused on "another record quarter" above all else.

That Apple was probably focused on making "insanely great products" with a goal of "another record quarter" being a natural benefit of achieving that. In other words, one is focused on “record” above everything and the other could get that as a natural extension of rolling out dazzling products.

This Apple is cozy with Wall Street and has taken on enormous Wall Street debt.

That Apple abhorred corporate debt and seemed to much prefer keeping Wall Street at arms length. Look up what Apple debt was under Jobs and what it has become today. But sit down first. It's a shocker.

Perhaps both are similar in name only? Today's Apple is very different than yesterday's. Shareholder delight seems to be the primary focus on this Apple and it is doing a spectacular job at that. That Apple seemed to put customers above all... delighting shareholders by happier customers buying more and thus achieving "another record quarter" in a way that made it seem like it wasn't always shareholders > customers.

 

[smulji]

if it comes to the air, no one will buy the pro

That's false. By far the biggest reason to buy the MBP is faster CPU, faster GPU, higher RAM headroom. If you're only buying the MBP for the screen, then you're not the target user for the MBP and you should be buying the MBP. There is nothing Pro about a 120hz OLED screen.

 

[smulji]

This is not how Apple thinks. Which is more profitable? Will embracing more expensive OLED be appealing enough to make up for the cut to profit by not sticking with the "as is"?

ASUS doesn't chase Apple's sky high margin. Thus, they can put great value into lower-priced offerings. Apple is almost at pocketing 50¢ of every $1 paid towards their wares. 50%!!! In pursuit of "another record quarter," they are focused on cutting costs and/or raising prices to fatten that margin and pocket more, more, more!

A more expensive display technology won't cut costs. Will it allow them to charge more for it? Maybe? Do we want even higher prices? They are already priced relatively high as you point out.

Will enough units of an OLED MBair sell to make up for the added cost of including OLED with all that sell... and then some?



This Apple is focused on "another record quarter" above all else.

That Apple was probably focused on making "insanely great products" with a goal of "another record quarter" being a natural benefit of achieving that. In other words, one is focused on that above everything and the other could get that as a natural extension of rolling out dazzling products.

This Apple is cozy with Wall Street and has taken on enormous Wall Street debt.

That Apple abhorred corporate debt and seemed to much prefer keeping Wall Street at arms length. Look up what Apple debt was under Jobs and what it has become today. But sit down first. It's a shocker.

Perhaps both are similar in name only? Today's Apple is very different than yesterday's. Shareholder delight seems to be the primary focus on this Apple and it is doing a spectacular job of that. That Apple seemed to put customers above all... delighting shareholders by happier customers buying more and thus achieving "another record quarter" in a way that made it seem like it wasn't always shareholders > customers.

An Apple that puts shareholder delight above customer delight, is an decline. A slow decline but a decline nonetheless.

 

[krspkbl]

I'm not upgrading until OLED Air exists or I have to. No other screen tech will make me upgrade unless it's MicroLED but with how incompetent Apple are with bringing OLED over then MicroLED is probably another 15-20 years away lol.

 

[anshuvorty]

C'mon! Something can't be delayed if it hasn't been officially announced!!!!

 

[macduke]

Stupid Apple again not understanding the underlying issue. The iPad Pro doesn't sell well because the OS is limited. Most people who want a tablet want something cheaper because it's for casual use. Most people who want to get a lot of work done get a laptop. Of course there are exceptions here and there as the iPad Pro can excel for certain creative tasks, but for everything else it lags behind a Mac in performance, battery life, and especially software. By the time you get it working halfway like a laptop, you're adding a really expensive keyboard and mouse case and making it way clunkier in the process.

I bought my M1 12.9" iPad Pro with 1TB storage and 16GB RAM thinking I would use it as a laptop and a tablet. I saw things like mouse support being added back then, the Files app before that, and better multitasking and figured we were on a trajectory for the iPad to be running macOS Lite. But it's still frustrating to use as a power user. Honestly it has been a great tablet, but not a great computer.

I still haven't come close to tapping the power of the M1 or 16GB RAM. It still runs really smoothly, and iOS 18 SOMEHOW and WEIRDLY fixed a lot of my battery life issues (seems appropriate for its age now). So I'm just using it as long as I can. The only thing that sucks is 12.9" is a less ideal form factor for something that is only used as a tablet, IMO. The only pressure I have to upgrade is to go for the 11" model instead, but I just can't justify it. And the only reason I would go for a Pro again is because I love tech and usually have enough disposable income to splurge on this because it has a nicer display. Normies don't typically care. But I'm still irritated by how much I spent on it, and for that reason I am keeping it for a bit longer.

 

[MayaUser]

There is nothing Pro about a 120hz OLED screen

For me that i work in maya with motion its definitely “more pro” to have 120hz and between than a static 60hz display

 

[svish]

Disappointing to hear this. Very long time away. If OLED is taking this long, I am not expecting to see faster display refresh rates anytime soon. I don't need the power of the Pro models, but with all the new features coming only to the Pro model, might have to consider it over the 15" Air.

 

[ksec]

Seriously though, I don't believe for a second MB Airs are getting OLED anytime soon, if ever. By 2029, mini LEDs will be better and cheaper than OLED anyway. If anything I'd expect Airs to get cheaper mini LED (ie. fewer dimming zones, which by 2029 standards will probably be what high-end expensive ones are today).

Mini LED is actually more expensive than OLED assuming the same quality and also thicker with more energy usage. You could get a cheaper Mini-LED LCD but it wouldn't be as good.

The only reason why OLED is pushed back is simply because the price of OLED isn't dropping fast enough for Apple to move them into their product line.

We have in CES Quad Layer OLED, we are also on track to have better blue materials. I would say in the next 2 - 5 years most of our concern with OLED are gone or becomes irrelevant. I am hoping for some breakthrough price drop with Mini-LED. But so far I dont see any sign yet. ( May be once production massively pick up )

 

[moldy lunchbox]

"moldy lunchbox's Purchase Of A New MacBook Reportedly Further Delayed"

hmm....that's ironic

 

[AlexESP]

#2 definitely isn't true. Compare what a MacBook Pro can do vs what an iPad can do. It's a joke for you to say iPadOS is maximizing the performance of the M4.

They can do… different things. And some overlap. iPadOS is great because it’s built from scratch for a tablet’s hardware format (touchscreen, no main portrait/landscape orientation, cameras, LiDAR, battery…). Other so-called tablets use a desktop OS and implement some adaptations as an afterthought, resulting in bad UX.

I think the myth of the iPad’s power being wasted comes from people who don’t know how to use/don’t have any use case for it.

 

[AlexESP]

I bought my M1 12.9" iPad Pro with 1TB storage and 16GB RAM thinking I would use it as a laptop and a tablet. I saw things like mouse support being added back then, the Files app before that, and better multitasking and figured we were on a trajectory for the iPad to be running macOS Lite. But it's still frustrating to use as a power user. Honestly it has been a great tablet, but not a great computer.

Apple had repeated many times that iPadOS and macOS won’t merge, what made you think we were on that trajectory? Based on your comment, it just seems like you’re not an iPad power user, but a basic one.

No offence, but it’s the same as buying a high-end MacBook Pro and using it to watch movies; it can be great because of the screen and other factors, but in terms of quality/price you probably would be happier with a base iPad (and a high-end Mac, based on what I can read between the lines).

 

[JonathanX64]

Another year of complete dominance by Windows laptops then, with stunning 3K OLED displays, more powerful and more efficient Zen 5 chips, affordable 32GB configurations, and easily replaceable NVMe storage that's much faster.

 

[johnnytravels]

You'll get it, in Macbook Pros. The Air only gets upgrades when it's absolutely necessary to protect the market share against windows laptops, or supply chain efficiency justifies it. For most people buying the Air, either the display is good enough, can't afford the higher price, or use it mostly in clamshell mode anyway. My MacBook is essentially a Mac Mini with a battery. My futile hope is getting a MacBook Pro with an option for worse (and hence cheaper) display.

This is an accurate assessment.
At the same time I cannot help but wonder why this is how we have started talking about Apple? I think the former appeal of the brand is gone, and all that’s left is people crunching numbers and other people dressing them up in derivative and repetitive ad campaigns and marketing. It’s such a sadness…

 

[JonathanX64]

and for 99% of buyers, the current screen tech is good enough (and lets face it, compared to screens we've had over decades, the current regular screens are fantastic.)

look at the blurry, low-res, washed out, limited viewing angle wide border Macbook Air screens of a decade ago.
we forget too easily how far we've come in expectations.

Hard disagree.

The iMac 5K was released over 10 years ago, but in 2025, Apple is still selling the Studio Display with essentially the same panel.

The MacBook Pro with DCI P3 Retina Display debuted in 2016. Today’s MacBook Air features a display with almost identical specs, albeit with slight improvements (beautiful notch, rounded corners, an additional line of screen real estate).

The only modern Apple products with actually state-of-the-art displays are the iPad Pro M4, the iPad Pro 12.9” (M1/M2), the MacBook Pro (2021 and later), and the iPhone 13 Pro and later; rest is sluggish garbage.

And they need to step it up; cheap 60Hz IPS panels are quickly becoming a running joke, much like 256GB Macs or charging $200 for an additional 8GB of memory.

 

[femike]

I would love that notch to be gone. There no reason for it (and no its not the camera).

 

[Populus]

And it'll get even better once it gets the A17 Pro chip and 8GB RAM. The iPad Air / Pro will have to fight hard to earn their place in the lineup.

I know this is extending the off-topic, but those are exactly my thoughts regarding the iPad.

If/when the base iPad gains a powerful 3nm SoC, such as the A17, even if they disable some GPU or CPU cores, paired with 8GB of RAM, the iPad Pro and especially the Air will suffer some sort of sales cannibalisation, because who’s going to spend 700-1000€ when you can just get a great iPadOS experience with the 350€ device?

That’s why I think Apple will keep deepening the software differentiation between the regular iPad and iPad mini, powered by A series chips, and the Air&Pro models with M series chips.

How? Well, we already have some of those software differentiators between those two lineups: M series iPad Air/Pro have Stage Manager, and can make independent use of an external display, whereas A series iPads lack Stage Manager and the external display support is limited to screen mirroring. I think they will push that software differentiation further, offering new “desktop-like” features and interface, a more complex UI on the M series iPads, while keeping the simple iPadOS interface we all know on the A series iPads.

 

[wbeasley]

Hard disagree.

The iMac 5K was released over 10 years ago, but in 2025, Apple is still selling the Studio Display with essentially the same panel.

The MacBook Pro with DCI P3 Retina Display debuted in 2016. Today’s MacBook Air features a display with almost identical specs, albeit with slight improvements (beautiful notch, rounded corners, an additional line of screen real estate).

The only modern Apple products with actually state-of-the-art displays are the iPad Pro M4, the iPad Pro 12.9” (M1/M2), the MacBook Pro (2021 and later), and the iPhone 13 Pro and later; rest is sluggish garbage.

And they need to step it up; cheap 60Hz IPS panels are quickly becoming a running joke, much like 256GB Macs or charging $200 for an additional 8GB of memory.

You know you dont have to buy them if you think they are a joke

Plenty of other companies happy to take your money...

 

[mike.coulter]

I may consider an upgrade from the M1 when there is no notch.

 

[VaruLV]

Say what you want, but for many Apple has long been company of delays and disappointments.
Basic things like OLED displays are somehow either technically too difficult for them or too unacceptable from their point of view due to their love for squeezing every drop, every cent from their customers for less.

 

[AeroEd]

Not really, Ive had a few touchscreen Windows devices.
It's clunky and of limited use.

It also failed on the lower part of a Surface screen I had so thankfully the mouse input still works on that part.

Touch is fine for large buttons.
But little else.

And finger prints on laptop screens is awful.

a lot (most?) ppl use their iPad like a laptop, landscape with keyboard. Same terrible ergonomics, same fingerprints lol

 

[johnsawyercjs]

I would love that notch to be gone. There no reason for it (and no its not the camera).

Speaking of the notch, I just noticed a way to sort of get rid of it on my 16 inch M1 Macbook Pro that I'd seen before, but for some reason it hadn't sunk in too well: all of the non-HiDPI scaled resolutions below the default of 1728 x 1117, and more than half of the non-HiDPI resolutions above the default (select the Displays prefpane's option to show all resolutions) make the notch go away by slightly letterboxing the display by pushing its top edge below the notch, creating a black bar a quarter of an inch tall (wide?), same as the notch, at the top of the display, overlapping/ superimposed over the notch, and subtracting only a millimeter or two at the bottom of the display. Sure you lose a little screen real estate, but if one of these scaled resolutions still shows enough pixels for you and doesn't annoy you even more than the notch for some other reason, it's an easy way to make the notch disappear, and get back some menu bar real estate.

I don't see any degradation in the sharpness of text, or anything else, when I have my Macbook's display set to 1312 x 820 or 1280 x 800, which are non-HiDPI resolutions, compared to the nearest-higher HiDPI scaling of 1312 x 848. My eyes aren't as good as they used to be, but (temporarily) looking at the display from only about five inches away, the resolution looks the same to me at all three of these settings, and virtually the same at the two next-higher HiDPI settings of 1496 x 967 and 1728 x 1117 (the default), which I find barely perceptibly sharper, and nothing I'd perceive from my normal viewing distance of about 24 inches.

 

[cigz]

My wife's ASUS laptop has a 16" 1920x1200 OLED display and it cost $500 less than a MBA.
So ordinary OLED displays aren't expensive.

The Apple watch has an OLED screen with more than double the pixels per inch of that laptop so we know the technology to make OLED dots that small exists.

The watch screen, however, is tiny compared to a Mac display. Making a full size screen with retina sized dots might be prohibitively expensive. Or maybe the OLED technology used in the watch doesn't have the kind of colour accuracy that Apple demands. Or maybe Apple has a long term agreement with a display manufacturer for older technology screens that yields very high profit margins.

Exactly this.
I'm constantly seeing windows laptops with OLED screens that are not only cheaper than base MacBook Air, but they also have more RAM and storage.
This is just embarrassing that Apple won't include OLED screens in MacBooks.
I do understand that tandem OLED could be expensive, but it's available in iPad that starts at $999 and MacBook Air uses basic IPS LCD screen with 500nits of brightness, they could easily replace those screens with OLED that has the same 500 nits of brightness.

 

[FlyingDutch]

Most brand’s premium laptops are already OLED. I wouldn’t necessarily count the Airs, but they are way behind on the Pros having this.

OLED doesn’t automatically mean better. Oled technology has several flaws, especially on a notebook that usually has to last for several years

 

[andiwm2003]

Displays are good enough as they are for most people. I wish apple would stop improving their budget laptops with luxury features like displays or thinness and rather keep them cheap. Just make them faster and with more memory to make them more future proof. Make them easier to maintain and repair and thus in the long run even cheaper. They can put the OLED in their high end pro machines where it's probably even needed.