Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

OLED MacBook Air Reportedly Now in Development as Apple Plans to Bring New Display Technology to Multiple Product Lines

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,782
39,729


Samsung Display is developing a 13.3-inch OLED panel for a future MacBook Air model amid plans to switch several of Apple's product lines to the display technology, The Elec reports.

macbook-air-spacegray-purple.jpg

LG Display is apparently developing OLED displays for both of the next-generation iPad Pro models in 11- and 13-inch sizes, and lacks sufficient production capacity for the MacBook Air, leading Apple to choose Samsung for the device instead. Samsung Display is also purportedly developing an 11-inch OLED panel for a future iPad model planned for launch next year, suggesting that it could take a share of the 11-inch iPad Pro orders from LG.

Apple apparently plans to sequentially introduce new iPad Pro, MacBook Pro, and MacBook Air models with OLED displays. The Elec is unsure when the OLED MacBook Air will be released, but suggests it could be around two years away due to Apple's product development timescales. Display analyst Ross Young has previously said that he expects a MacBook Air with an OLED panel to launch as soon as 2024.

It is believed that Apple originally wanted Samsung Display to supply a 10.86-inch OLED panel for a future iPad Air model, which would have been its first OLED iPad, before the project was scrapped due to the single stack panel's price and quantity issues, as well as concerns around the need to differentiate the iPad Air from the iPad Pro. Apple is now said to have moved to a more reliable two-stack OLED panel that is expected to debut on the iPad Pro next year.

The Elec also claims that the project to develop an 13.3-inch OLED panel for a MacBook Air is also effectively a test for mass production of OLED panels for future MacBook Pro models.

Article Link: OLED MacBook Air Reportedly Now in Development as Apple Plans to Bring New Display Technology to Multiple Product Lines
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/03/30/oled-macbook-air-now-in-development/
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: sorgo †
yes!!

a 15" OLED Air is the perfect device. i know this is just saying 13.3" but if the 15" rumors are true it will come to that too at some point.

Joelj said:
Please keep a non OLED range for users it gives headaches, otherwise I'm stuck on M2 Air and iPhone 11 for the foreseeable future.
Click to expand...
you'll be stuck buying cheap/entry level Apple products. OLED is going to be on iPads and Macs soon enough. you must be in the minority because OLED is everywhere. it's quite difficult to buy any modern phone without OLED lol.

OLED is the best display tech out. You'll be waiting a LONG time for MicroLED iPhones.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Disagree
Reactions: mistymac, rafark, The Barron and 9 others
Now its the Macbook Air...and not the Pro...figure it
Some of us we already knew that those rumours are false
The air will get oled...macbook air and the ipad air, the Pros will remain with the accurate mini Led until the microLed
 
  • Haha
Reactions: cateye and krspkbl
MayaUser said:
Now its the Macbook Air...and not the Pro...figure it
Some of us we already knew that those rumors are false
The air will get oled...macbook air and the ipad air, the Pros will remain with the accurate mini Led until the microLed
Click to expand...
Mini LED ain't accurate lol.

floral said:
Please no giant price bumps...
Click to expand...
It's Apple...

Any excuse to bump up the price. They 100% will increase price for OLED.
 
Great, another price increase for adding a tech most people don’t even care about. For anyone who says otherwise, go ask your dad or mom, the people who would most likely need a MBA, if they need a gobbledeegookhz refresh rate with Mini-Ol’Ed Google Pixels at 4k resolution.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mcru21
My 13" M1 MacBook Pro already has an OLED display, oh hold on its actually an OLED keyboard, aka Touch Bar!
 
MacRumors said:
Samsung Display is developing a 13.3-inch OLED panel for a future MacBook Air model amid plans to switch several of Apple's product lines to the display technology, The Elec reports.
Click to expand...
The M2 MacBook Air has a 13.6” screen. I don’t think Apple is going to go back to 13.3” anytime soon. So just another poorly informed rumor.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Saturn1217
I’m another one who hopes Apple keeps a non-OLED Air in the line. I’m sure the display is amazing, wonderful, bright, color-accurate and all that, but remember that students overwhelmingly buy Airs for school. Price those too high, and you lose a substantial part of that market.

As for me, my photo and video editing days are over, and I somehow did a pretty good job of it without OLED. I need a new laptop to replace my 9 year old MBPro, and I’m waiting for the expected 15 inch Air, but when OLED is introduced to the Air line that would probably push the price up to a level I wouldn’t pay.

There’s always hardware to satisfy the power user who can justify the investment; don’t take away the price points for the entry-level users.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: entropi, m4c1n705h, platinumaqua and 1 other person
Please eventually can we have an oled iPad mini??? Pretty please. At least on a higher end model? The mini size is the only iPad size I’m personally interested in. Being able to get a non-budget version of that would be great.
 
I’d love to get a MacBook Air, it’s all the processing power I’d need realistically, but now that I’ve used a mini LED and HDR display for over a year, there’s no way I’m going back to standard LCD. An MBA with a better display would be the thing to make me finally buy one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Lucidmyth
Considering how many Airs Apple sells a year, they could very well move to OLED without seeing a significant price rise in the BOM compared to the current LED display, especially if they go with a panel that is already in large-scale (for an OLED) production and therefore has the economies of scale built in.

Apple knows how important the Air is and how important the low(er) price of it is. It took awhile for the $1199 Retina Air to finally displace the $999 non-Retina model so I think Apple would not move to OLED if it would result in a major ($100-200) price increase because the Air does not need OLED to make it popular.

And yes, I know Cook is the master of recycling old tech so an argument could be made for Apple offering the M1 Air at $999, the M2 Air at $1199 and a new M3 OLED Air at $1399 and hoping people upsell to it, but I honestly don't see that happening and expect the M3 OLED Air to be $1199 and the M2 LCD Air taking over the $999 price point.


I bought the 14" M1 MacBook Pro solely for the display, so I would jump on a 13" OLED MacBook Air since I use my laptop solely for content consumption. And I would absolutely buy a 15" OLED model.
 
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: compwiz1202 and ADHWGT
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back