Exactly. The whole point of an ultra-portable is easy portability, and any change that forces you to carry more dongles *reduces* the ease of portability.
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MacBook Air With Slightly Smaller 13.4-Inch OLED Display Rumored
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There have been a series of articles on MacRumors (and some other sites) over the last year or so talking about the dual-layer OLEDs. Apple was pushing the manufacturers like Samsung to build them. It sounds like Samsung eventually agreed to do so. The idea is that by having two layers of emitters, they don’t have to drive each emitter as hard to get acceptable brightness. That reduces the chances of burn-in which increases with increased emitter brightness. They could drive each layer at 75% maximum and get more brightness than a single layer OLED but less burn-in risk.
Here is one article from 2021
2022 OLED iPad Air in Doubt After Apple Turns Down Samsung's Display Panels
Apple has called off a joint project with Samsung to use a Samsung-developed OLED display for a forthcoming 10.9-inch iPad Air, according to a new...
www.macrumors.com
Here is a list of MR articles on OLED
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For some reason, I feel 100% confident that someone with sway in Apple must think about it / feel about it like we do. And they are making it happen right now.
But there have not been enough rumors to make me logically confident that a 12" MBA will happen soon.
Regardless:
Emotionally, I'm having a mind meld with the product manager with enough sway to make it happen by sheer force of will. If we both make meditation noises at the same time, and look west to Cupertino, we can make it happen!
How does double-layer give them higher efficiency? It could be explained if power vs. brightness for OLED screens were super-linear, but this says it's not: https://www.researchgate.net/figure...need-to-be-lit-15-We-confirmed_fig5_221234525There have been a series of articles on MacRumors (and some other sites) over the last year or so talking about the dual-layer OLEDs. Apple was pushing the manufacturers like Samsung to build them. It sounds like Samsung eventually agreed to do so. The idea is that by having two layers of emitters, they don’t have to drive each emitter as hard to get acceptable brightness. That reduces the chances of burn-in which increases with increased emitter brightness. They could drive each layer at 75% maximum and get more brightness than a single layer OLED but less burn-in risk.
Here is one article from 2021
2022 OLED iPad Air in Doubt After Apple Turns Down Samsung's Display Panels
Apple has called off a joint project with Samsung to use a Samsung-developed OLED display for a forthcoming 10.9-inch iPad Air, according to a new...
Here is a list of MR articles on OLED
OLED manufacturing has changed quite a bit from the 3.7” AMOLED screen from 2011 in that paper.
I don’t have specifics but I suspect that’s ancient history from a design and manufacturing standpoint today.
Just like there is a wide range of architectures within LCD displays (hence them getting better over time) and LED (IPS vs TN) OLED should be thought of as an umbrella term for a whole slew of different technologies where the common denominator is that the individual pixel is an organic LED. Beyond that how it’s powered, packaged, arranged, etc define the characteristics of how the display behaves.
Quick example of changes in recent history:
LG Display develops large OLED with double the brightness compared to before
LG Display developed the world's first large organic light emitting diode (OLED) with applying convex lens technology that is twice as bright as conventional TVs. It took another leap from the last ye
english.etnews.com
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Sure, but none of that gives an answer to the question I raised, which is why double-stacking OLED increases efficiency.OLED manufacturing has changed quite a bit from the 3.7” AMOLED screen from 2011 in that paper.
I don’t have specifics but I suspect that’s ancient history from a design and manufacturing standpoint today.
Just like there is a wide range of architectures within LCD displays (hence them getting better over time) and LED (IPS vs TN) OLED should be thought of as an umbrella term for a whole slew of different technologies where the common denominator is that the individual pixel is an organic LED. Beyond that how it’s powered, packaged, arranged, etc define the characteristics of how the display behaves.
Quick example of changes in recent history:
LG Display develops large OLED with double the brightness compared to before
LG Display developed the world's first large organic light emitting diode (OLED) with applying convex lens technology that is twice as bright as conventional TVs. It took another leap from the last ye
Yes, the tech has changed, but that doesn't mean the functional form of the power curve has changed from linear to superlinear (which, everything else being equal, would be a detrimental change). Maybe it has, maybe it hasn't. Thus to counter the paper I cited, you'd need to cite one showing the current OLED technology used in laptops is superlinear for power vs brightness, or some other source that addresses this question directly.
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Honestly, I have no idea, I was just trying to make sure people understood that “oled” actually means many things just like LED and LCD do.
Across different OLED technology reporting, specific engineering regarding power characteristics doesn’t seem as easy to find as the kind of press release that I cited. I’m not sure where I’d find such a direct topic other than academic or trade journals?
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Now I’m actually interested in these specifics. This is just a quick search while I wait for dinner. I’m sure there’s been quite a few of these kind of power saving techniques folded into modern OLED production in the last decade or so.
Hopefully I don’t go down the rabbit hole tonight, I’ve got an oil change to do 😅
Nanotech OLED electrode liberates 20% more light, could slash display power consumption
A new electrode that could free up 20% more light from organic light-emitting diodes has been developed at the University of Michigan. It could help extend the battery life of smartphones and laptops, or make next-gen televisions and displays much more energy efficient. The approach prevents
news.umich.edu
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That's interesting, but it reminds me of batteries--you can always find dozens of lab-level technologies whose performance exceeds that of current commercial products. I can never tell from these press announcements if the tech is commercializable. Most of it, as I'm sure you know, is never able to make that leap.Nanotech OLED electrode liberates 20% more light, could slash display power consumption
A new electrode that could free up 20% more light from organic light-emitting diodes has been developed at the University of Michigan. It could help extend the battery life of smartphones and laptops, or make next-gen televisions and displays much more energy efficient. The approach preventsnews.umich.edu
Oh I know, half of the patents get bought and shelved because they don’t scale or they’re too costly to implement in existing fabs.
This is interesting (while being years out of date), of course Anandtech has an article in the vein of what we’re discussing: https://www.anandtech.com/show/9394/analysing-amoled-power-efficiency
I don’t know that efficiency is the goal of dual layer OLED. From what I’ve read the benefits of dual layer are greater brightness and less burn-in risk.
Well, the article I cited is saying it's 30% more efficient, so I'm curious how. Plus if it can provide such an increase in efficiency, that should be just as important as increased brightness and reduced burn-in when it comes to mobile applications.
The iPad Pro does not seam to have much problems in that regard with Mini Led on the iPad Pro's.
Yes, OLED is better for power consumption yet there is still the burn in issue. So still IMHO for the price the Air M2 should have come with this tech. The way I see it Apple is just cutting corners in quality to save some money when it already has the tech to offer a better imaging experience on the MBA. Nothing wrong with that if users had the option to choose a better display for the MBA like they do with the MBP.
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Is burn-in really much more of a concern on a laptop than it is on an Phone/Watch screen? Generally its more of a problem in embedded systems and the like which are permanently on and sit and display the same screen layout for years on end. Quite different from the duty cycle of a typical laptop.
In any case, if it was an issue I'd think it's something that could be addressed in software. Screen dimming, screen savers, etc.
Phone screens are very aggressive about shutting off the screen very quickly. A laptop would not normally blank the screen so quickly and there are likely to be more static elements on a larger screen. Software can only do so much to offset the problem.
From the rumors, Apple is planning on using a dual-layer OLED on some models to reduce the risk of burn-in, but that is probably an expensive solution only suitable for the Pro devices. A MacBook Air with OLED probably only gets the single-layer OLED like what Samsung already produces.
Right, but even so, most laptops aren't left on 24/7. The display usually dims or turns off periodically to save power anyway.
Also, Apple Watch defaults to "always on" mode for it's OLED display. Obviously it dims a bit, but the design of most watch faces leaves some permanently lit pixels. This doesn't seem to have been a concern for the Apple Watch so far.
OLED is also pretty widely used in TV screens. There were concerns with burn-in in early models, but it seems like it's a pretty rare problem now days.
Burn-in is more likely with brighter emission levels. The dimmed always on display is much less likely to suffer burn-in.
Yes, the laptop screen can turn off fairly quickly but while you are using it there are lots of static elements and the brightness is not dimmed. Unless you work on it in very short bursts, the display will be on for extended periods of time.
My understanding is that the dual-layer OLED that Apple is working on is intended to reduce the burn-in problem but that will be more expensive than commodity single-layer OLED screens.