Apple's Road Ahead for OLED: iPads might get the new display panels in 2023, but more research needed before MacBooks get the OLED update

The following analyst opinion piece was originally published as a part of Omdia's Display Dynamics Intelligence Service.

Apple may well adopt hybrid OLED panels for 10.9-inch iPads in 2023, followed by 11- and 12.9-inch iPad tablets in 2024, but the company will likely hold off incorporating OLED panels into its MacBook notebooks as research continues around resolution and power consumption, Omdia believes.

Apple traditionally has been a trendsetter in display applications, and the company has been including OLED panels for IT devices in its display roadmap. But while Apple is often an early adopter, the company typically is not the first to use the latest display technology.

Apple has been planning to add more OLED displays to its products, such as iPhones, iPads, and MacBooks. In the long term, the use of OLED in iPads and MacBooks will increase, and more OLED panels will be adopted for high-end models in the future. In 2021, however, mini LED backlight LCD panels will be the short-term solution for some iPad and MacBook models.

Apple purchased 60 million LCD units for iPads and 18 million LCD units for MacBooks in 2020. An important user of high-end mobile PC displays, Apple has been interested in adopting OLED panels for its mobile PCs, eyeing OLED's advantages like slim design, color performance, fast response time, and theoretically lower power consumption.

For smartphones, OLED panels have been proven to perform better in the mobile devices, and Samsung Galaxy Tab models have been using OLED panels for a long time. However, it might take some time for OLED panels to achieve a good yield rate, given their limited capacity, which would delay Apple's adoption of OLED panels.

Meanwhile, the mini LED backlight provides an excellent contrast ratio and a great high dynamic range (HDR), and it is a fit for the current iPad's and MacBook's slim design. Therefore, Apple will adopt mini LED backlights for three models: 12.9-inch iPad Pro, 14-inch MacBook, and 16-inch MacBook. LG Display and Sharp are important suppliers of oxide TFT panels for iPads and MacBooks, and as key suppliers, they will provide mini LED backlight-equipped LCD panels.

OLED panels perform well in iPhones. Flexible OLED panels are slim, and they provide strong picture performance in parameters such as color and contrast. As for hybrid OLED panels, the cost is affordable. As a manufacturing solution, hybrid OLED panels are the middle ground between flexible and rigid OLED panels. In addition, hybrid OLED panels have thin glass substrates with flexible thin-film encapsulation (TFE).

In conclusion, Omdia expects Apple to adopt OLED panels for iPads and MacBooks beyond 2022, with many experiments underway. However, Apple will not terminate iPads and MacBooks equipped with mini LED backlight LCDs, initiated in 2021. Apple's mobile PCs will use traditional a-Si TFT LCDs, oxide TFT LCDs, and oxide TFT with mini LED backlights, while other iPad and MacBook models will use hybrid OLED panels, or even flexible OLED panels, based on Apple's different product segments and consumer needs.

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