At Apple, users are always rewarded for their patience. After presenting its new iPad Pro 11 and 12.9 inches, eyes are already turning to the next generation which could finally integrate a technology well known to Android tablet users.
Once again, it is again the specialist in screen supply chains, Ross Young, who after the presentations of the new iPad Pro reaffirms his prognosis concerning the arrival of OLED screens on the brand’s tablets. . Apple being Apple, however, it would be a very particular version of the technology.
OLED screens on iPad Pro, it would be for 2024
This week, Apple unveiled its new 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro powered by the M2 chip. None of them change screen technology compared to the models released in 2021. Thus, there is an LCD panel on the 11 inch and a mini-LED panel on the 12.9 inch. But according to renowned screen analyst Ross Young, that should change in the spring of 2024, when Apple decides to switch to OLED for its two “Pro” models.
Sorry that I was right about the displays not changing on the new iPad Pros…flex…:) 2024 we will see OLEDs on both…
—Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) October 18, 2022
“Finally,” say those who have seen this display technology available on TVs, PCs and tablets for some time. Indeed, we remember the Samsung Galaxy TabPro S launched in 2016 with an OLED screen. Obviously, this type of display has since evolved. As always, Apple is very cautious when it comes to adopting new technology. We remember, for example, that the iPhone X was the brand’s first smartphone with an OLED screen, years after some competing models.
Apple generally waits for a technology to be perfectly mature, both to avoid teething problems and to reduce costs. This is one of the reasons why the 11-inch model of the iPad Pro does not take advantage of the mini-LED, which was deemed too heavy and too expensive to be integrated on this screen diagonal.
What would OLED bring to Apple tablets?
Today, mini-LED is the best display technology available on iPad. It offers superior brightness and contrast to LCD. But OLED has the advantage of producing perfect blacks insofar as each pixel is illuminated individually, thus avoiding the effect of luminous halos (blooming). Another advantage: a black pixel is an off pixel, which allows the screen to consume less energy while improving the autonomy of the tablet.
OLED displays are also thinner and lighter than mini-LED displays. In short, many advantages for a technology which is now mature and which suffers less and less from the phenomenon of persistence, but also from marking when a static image is displayed for a prolonged period.
For its 2024 iPad Pro (with M3 chip?), Apple would choose hybrid OLED panels. The latter would be made up of two layers, one rigid in glass and another flexible in polyamide, in order to double the level of brightness while offering a better lifespan to the screen. Response in the spring of 2024, a launch window that would correspond to the iPad renewal cycle, namely every 18 months or so.