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

Samsung and LG Preparing for Next-Generation iPad Pro With OLED Display

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,546
37,889


Samsung and LG are preparing their factories for mass production of the first iPads with OLED displays, according to South Korea's ETNews. The report describes the displays as "hybrid" panels, as they use a combination of flexible and rigid OLED technologies.

ipad-pro-2022.jpg

Apple plans to introduce new 13-inch MacBook Air, 11.1-inch iPad Pro, and 13-inch iPad Pro models with OLED displays in 2024, according to display industry analyst Ross Young, who has a proven track record with Apple rumors. Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also expects the first MacBook with an OLED display to launch next year.

Young previously said the new MacBook Air and iPad Pro models would use "two-stack" OLED displays with two red, green, and blue emission layers for increased brightness. He also said all of the devices would support ProMotion for up to a 120Hz refresh rate.

All existing iPads and MacBooks are equipped with backlit LCD displays, whereas OLED displays have self-emitting pixels and do not require backlighting, allowing for higher contrast ratio, greater color accuracy, and lower power consumption. Apple already uses OLED displays for the latest Apple Watch and iPhone models, excluding the iPhone SE.

Meanwhile, the Apple Watch Ultra is expected to switch to a microLED display in 2024, and other Apple products will likely follow over the course of several years. microLED will be the next display technology that Apple adopts after OLED, paving the way for even higher contrast ratio, increased brightness, and lower power consumption.

Article Link: Samsung and LG Preparing for Next-Generation iPad Pro With OLED Display
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2023/02/06/samsung-lg-preparing-for-oled-ipads-report/
Last edited:
This could be great as long as the color degradation is not as bad as current iPhone models when set to a low brightness.
 
  • Like
Reactions: klasma
benroberts3 said:
Looking forward to this. The light blooming on my 12.9 iPad Pro with mini LED is awful.
Click to expand...
that miniLed issue can be fixed with dimming zone per pixel, while oled cannot be fixed anymore...what flaws oled has now will ever have until micro-Led
 
  • Like
Reactions: NC12
From the original article, DeepL translation:

The OLED applied to the iPad is characterized by a combination of flexible and rigid OLED technologies. It is a technology that applies the thin film envelope (TFE) process of flexible OLED on a glass substrate used for rigid OLED. The fusion of the two technologies is called a 'hybrid' panel.

Unlike the production of conventional OLED panels, iPad OLED has a new process called etching. Etching means to cut, and the glass substrate is reportedly made very thin to complete the panel.

Samsung Display outsourced this process to its partner Chemtronics. On the same day, Chemtronics announced that it would invest 24.2 billion won to build a sixth-generation OLED etching facility. Chemtronics is responsible for making 0.5 millimeter (0.5T) thick glass substrates into 0.2 millimeter (0.2T). The iPad OLED was expected to be difficult to commercialize due to its thin glass substrate, but the company overcame the technical limitations, which led to the investment in the facility.

Initially, Apple considered applying polyimide (PI) based flexible OLEDs to the iPad. However, due to the phenomenon that some parts of the screen look crushed, the company reportedly settled on a hybrid OLED that uses a glass substrate.

LG Display is also planning to make OLEDs for the iPad. LG Display is preparing to mass-produce hybrid OLEDs at its 6th generation factory in Paju. LG Display is expected to cooperate with Avatech on etching.

This is the first time Apple is using OLEDs in the iPad. Previously, the iPad used liquid crystal displays (LCDs). It is understood that Apple wants to switch the iPad display to OLED after the iPhone in order to premiumize it because OLED has low power, excellent color reproduction, and light weight. Apple is preparing to switch not only the iPad but also the MacBook to OLED. The MacBook is targeted for 2026. The 14-inch and 16-inch MacBooks are being developed.
 
2023 may be the first 'year of no new apple devices' in a long long time for us. I regret buying the 14 phones last year (we should have waited for the USB-C version), but now that we have them, it's at least 24 or 25 before an upgrade. iPads have been postponed to 2024, and given the late release of the M2 mac, I have to believe we won't see M3's this fall (two iterations in a single year? possible, but unlikely). Ditto Watch 8 and Ultra - they're good for at least 2-3 years.

In a recession year, that's actually kinda nice. Nothing really compelling on the horizon that I have to make hard decisions about.
 
  • Like
Reactions: brgtul, TechNutt, Thisismattwade and 2 others
I’m going to enjoy my 11 Pro M2 and upgrade to one of these when the time comes. Hopefully landscape camera happens.
 
I love the image quality of OLED displays, but I worry about pixel dimming (similar to burn-in).

Modern OLEDs can make it 5,000 hours without appreciable changes in brightness (at least based on some OLED TV testing). I'm not particularly concerned with Apple Watches, iPhones and iPads because they're just not "ON" enough, the always-on displays sit at low brightness (high current drives OLED dimming), and because even for things like the clock on the iPhone it would just take ages for the pixels in those changing digits to "dim" (though there may be some common pixels used in most/all digits that might start showing their age).

I'm more concerned about future OLED devices, such as display monitors which can realistically be on 8, 10, 12 hours a day while displaying static content like the menu bar, scroll bars, the dock, etc. Back in the 80's and 90's when CRT screen burn-in was a very significant problem, "screen savers" were invented to help prevent it -- but I still had terrible artifacts burned into the phosphors of my CRTs. But back then people didn't use their monitors as much as they do today (my 3 monitors today don't even have a chance of starting the screen saver unless I go to lunch). Hopefully they can improve the dimming effect before OLED gets to Apple monitors (or maybe they already have).
 
  • Like
Reactions: HVDynamo, StellarVixen, TheRoadRunner and 1 other person
Surprised they aren't going to use the the quantum dot OLED. It has fewer layers, very thin, very bright. Oh well.
 
  • Like
Reactions: iLLUMI
benroberts3 said:
Looking forward to this. The light blooming on my 12.9 iPad Pro with mini LED is awful.
Click to expand...
Seriously. It’s my least favorite thing about my iPad. It’s bad. I’m so glad the mini-LED fanboys have finally stopped preaching constantly that mini-LED is better and Apple’s just smarter than other companies for using it over OLED.

No, like I’ve been saying for almost two years now, mini-LED is a stopgap. It’s an improvement over LCD for black levels, but it’s still a lot worse looking. OLED has no blooming, is more efficient, and takes up less physical space. Did it used to have burn-in issues? Yes. Have there ever been any widespread burn-in issues with Apple OLED displays ever? No, and Apple has been using them since 2015. OLED can’t get as brighter as mini-LED? Also incorrect. The iPhone 14 Pro models and Apple Watch Ultra get up to 2000 nits brightness while the iPad Pro “only” gets up to 1600 nits.

Can you tell I’m still bitter? End of rant. :rolleyes:
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: TechNutt, TheRoadRunner and TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
MallardDuck said:
2023 may be the first 'year of no new apple devices' in a long long time for us. I regret buying the 14 phones last year (we should have waited for the USB-C version), but now that we have them, it's at least 24 or 25 before an upgrade. iPads have been postponed to 2024, and given the late release of the M2 mac, I have to believe we won't see M3's this fall (two iterations in a single year? possible, but unlikely). Ditto Watch 8 and Ultra - they're good for at least 2-3 years.

In a recession year, that's actually kinda nice. Nothing really compelling on the horizon that I have to make hard decisions about.
Click to expand...
Apple released the M1 Ultra chip last March and then announced the M2 three months later, so it's not unreasonable to expect the M3 this fall since the M2 Pro/Max launched last month (and was supposed to launch last fall) and the M2 Ultra will likely launch in the spring. I suspect Apple wants to be on an annual upgrade cadence for the M-series but was thrown off by a combination of Covid-related supply chain issues and TSMC's issues getting 3nm off the ground. There was just a little over a year between the launch of the M1 Pro/Max and the M2 Pro/Max, after all. After all MacBook Pros and iMacs received annual upgrades during the Intel era, so it's not unprecedented (some years they were even updated twice!).
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tagbert and VaruLV
benroberts3 said:
Looking forward to this. The light blooming on my 12.9 iPad Pro with mini LED is awful.
Click to expand...
Awful? Do you think that might be a huge exaggeration. Mini LED may still have very slight blooming, but nothing that could be described as awful. I love the screen of my 12.9 iPad Pro. I hate OLED for many reasons. Your ipad may be defective. Take it back for an exchange.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Alex Cai, Armada2, TheRoadRunner and 2 others
That "two-stack" OLED is also supposed to reduce the chances of burn-in on these displays. Perhaps, due to each stack not needing to be driven at full power to get acceptable brightness. Burn-in is at a higher chance the brighter you run the OLEDs.
 
I feel like this will lead to people returning LG OLED screens until they get a Samsung QD-OLED screen? Isn't QD-OLED better with less chance of burn in and other perks? Or does LG have OLED advancements of their own?
 
Mini-LED on the 12.9” Pro was a mistake that needs fixing. Fast. Not sure who they were trying to impress with that. Certainly not fervent proponents of OLED. Any videophile worth their salt will just laugh at the silver clouds swimming around in their blacks all day. Ridiculous. I honestly think people who don’t see it are either blind or lying.
 
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