MacBook Pro OLED Display Production Clears Key Hurdle

[MacRumors]

Apple's first OLED MacBook Pro models have cleared a major manufacturing hurdle, with panel supplier Samsung Display having reportedly achieved yields above 90 percent on its Gen 8.6 OLED production line.

According to Korean publication The Elec, some individual process stages are now reaching yields as high as 95 percent, a level that the display industry considers "golden yield" territory for stable mass production.

The report says Samsung could begin shipping OLED laptop panels through the supply chain as early as June. The panels are expected to be used in future 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, with estimated supply volumes of around 2 million units this year.

The rapid yield improvement is notable because OLED laptop panels are a lot harder to manufacture than smartphone displays due to their larger size and stricter brightness and lifespan requirements. For example, MacBook Pro panels are expected to use brighter tandem two-stack OLED technology like Apple's OLED iPad Pro models, oxide TFT backplanes for improved battery life, and an anti-moisture sealing protection method called hybrid encapsulation.

Samsung began its Gen 8.6 IT OLED investment in 2023 and is currently operating one of two planned production lines. Depending on demand for the OLED MacBook Pro models, which will reportedly have touchscreen capability for the first time, Samsung could activate the second line and expand capacity further.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has repeatedly stated that 14-inch and 16-inch OLED MacBook Pro models are slated to launch in late 2026 to early 2027, but the latter time frame is now said to be more likely due to the industry-wide chip shortage.

Article Link: MacBook Pro OLED Display Production Clears Key Hurdle

 

[Shalev Lazarof]

what a beast of next generation MacBook is about to drop.

 

[Justin Cymbal]

The panels are expected to be used in future 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, with estimated supply volumes of around 2 million units this year

Awesome 😎 I have the iPad Pro with the OLED display and use it every day
The power efficiency improvements now that the MacBook Pro is soon to have OLED as well will be awesome! Possibly John Turnus’s first product too

 

[MayaUser]

Same thing happen with oled touchbar

 

[MayaUser]

Awesome 😎 I have the iPad Pro with the OLED display and use it every day
The power efficiency improvements now that the MacBook Pro is soon to have OLED as well will be awesome! Possibly John Turnus’s first product too

if its not tandem oled...this is an regression

 

[lusty]

Touch will be great, hope Apple implement it well. It’s the one thing I really miss from Windows laptops

 

[Nuno Lopes]

I think the current mini led implementation ion MacBooks s awesome. To be honest I find the improvement to OLED displays marginal, particularly laptop displays, yet I need to check this implementation.

For the price tag, I was expecting to see this on the Apple Studio Display. I mean, the lower end model with mini-led and higher end with OLED. I think here the difference could be more substantial. But we just got the run of the mill lower end along with a "pro" 5 years old mini led tech.

 

[TechRunner]

Would love to have an OLED panel in a 14" MBP, but I'm not sure I'll love the price.

 

[Tim Jobs the 2nd]

Bring on the "burn-in" fear mongering posts.

I can't wait to see this baby in action.

 

[Pezimak]

Looking forward to what they come up with.

 

[Pezimak]

Bring on the "burn-in" fear mongering posts.

I can't wait to see this baby in action.

It is still a valid concern if you have the same image on the screen day in day out for several hours, it is why I went for a Studio Display for my works laptop, but my Mac is for me so bring on the OLED!

 

[Aleco]

Wonder if they’re just going to introduce this as Ultra/Studio with a unique size (15” ?) or just update the line across the board and raise the price.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

Gosh I still don't know what to do. This is the one I've beeen waiting for, but I'm not sure on how it'll be priced. Do you guys expect a significant price increase? Will it be a pro refresh or an ULTRA?

I can still grab a 14 m5 24/1tb for 1500 (with m1 air trade in)

 

[Edsel]

"...reaching yields as high as 95 percent...."

With my luck, I'd receive one of the 5 percent. 😂

 

[Tim Jobs the 2nd]

Do you guys expect a significant price increase?

I absolutely expect that.

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

I absolutely expect that.

How much though

 

[DBZmusicboy01]

Would love to have an OLED panel in a 14" MBP, but I'm not sure I'll love the price.

Sadly the OLED won’t be the reason why the price will be extremely expensive it’s the CHIP shortage crying 😭 all thanks to AI
I wouldn’t be surprised if it starts at $2999 for the 14in.

 

[alphaswift]

So we have a MBP with OLED touchscreen screen and we have a Ipad Pro with an OLED touchscreen screen and a magic Keyboard. Both could use the same processor and have about the same memory (at the lower end for MBP).

Can we get an option to run MacOS on Ipad Pro please?

 

[StrollerEd]

I think I might wait on the M5 MBP crumbs that might cascade s/h from those able to afford this 😉

Keep me in mind ...

 

[CATiNTHESTORE]

Long time no see lil fellow Mark Gurman)

 

[Chevyguy2021]

Gosh I still don't know what to do. This is the one I've beeen waiting for, but I'm not sure on how it'll be priced. Do you guys expect a significant price increase? Will it be a pro refresh or an ULTRA?

I can still grab a 14 m5 24/1tb for 1500 (with m1 air trade in)

All of this is hypothetical. Get the machine you need now. Then sell or trade it in.

 

[RottenSpam]

The real question for me, is this replacing the Macbook pro line or will this arrive as a new higher end laptop with the PRO's co-exisitng at their current price point. I can read the report, which thinks its a pro replacement... But in the iPad line there are 4 lines of device, I wonder if we will now have a neo, air, pro, and utra or something like it. Personally I don't care about a touch screen, and find them to be junk on windows laptops and often an early failure point. We have to turn off the feature a lot on laptops we support, once the touch fails. My importantly will Apple release the M6 at the same time which is rumored to be a good upgrade over the M5.

 

[Cmd031304]

Bring on the "burn-in" fear mongering posts.

I can't wait to see this baby in action.

That's not fear mongering, burn-in is a fact of life with OLED panels displaying static images. We'll have to wait and see how these screens perform in practice though.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

So we have a MBP with OLED touchscreen screen and we have a Ipad Pro with an OLED touchscreen screen and a magic Keyboard. Both could use the same processor and have about the same memory (at the lower end for MBP).

Not sure about that. The article doesn't say OLED touchscreen. So these might be non-touchscreen OLED displays.

Or was it stated previously that the all OLED MBP screens would be touchscreens?

 

[triumvirate]

They will be beautiful machines but any price increase will be hard to justify in today’s economy. People who need the Pro will keep buying it, of course, but many casual users also buy the Pro… but how long will that go on with the endless price hikes? I left that MacBook Pro train this year and the money saved was pretty nice, and I easily had the extra $ to stick with the Pro.

Edit: I forget that “buy now, pay later” traps are all the new rage. People might Klarna it to death for more debt.