Future Apple iPad Pros could be thinner, lighter and generally more premium, thanks to new OLED screen technology developed by LG and Samsung.
This is revealed by a report from The Elec (opens in a new tab), which claims that LG Display and Samsung are both working on a fancy new OLED burning technology that could one day be used in top iPads. It is not yet known when the iPad Pro will benefit from this development, but it could be as early as next year.
We previously announced that iPad Pro models could come with OLED displays in 2024, with LG and Samsung expected to produce panels for Apple. These are said to have a dual-layer design, meaning there’s a pair of light-emitting layers in the display, not just one. These are hybrid panels, a compromise between the less expensive rigid (standard) panels and the more expensive flexible panels.
These hybrid panels use a combination of a glass substrate (like a rigid screen, which consists of two layers) and a thin film encapsulation, or TFE (like a flexible panel). However, at present, this layer of glass substrate must be laid during the manufacturing process on the production line.
The new etching process will allow everything to be done in one go, which will be safer for the manufacturer and will result in a thinner panel (and therefore an iPad).
The downside to all of this is that LG Display won’t use this new technology until its first OLED Gen 8 line. For the iPad Pro models announced for next year, it’s therefore the OLED Gen 6 line that will used, which means we won’t have these thinner panels until the next generation, which is after the 2024 models.
Samsung Display apparently started working on this new burning process earlier than LG, and The Elec’s report claims it will be immediately applied to iPad OLED panels on Samsung’s Gen 6 line. We therefore hypothesize that the next iPad Pro could finally benefit from these thinner and more pleasant screens.
Analysis: When can we have this dream screen?
Alright, so if we were to see those super-thin displays in the next iPad Pros – at least for the panels Samsung is making with this new etching process – how would that work? Could the larger iPad Pro have these panels, but not the smaller one?
It would certainly make sense for the larger of the tablets to be updated first, as the successor to the current rather heavy iPad Pro 12.9 has more to gain with a thinner screen.
However, a rapport (opens in a new tab) Earlier from The Elec (two months ago) claimed that Samsung only develops 11-inch OLED displays for Apple, while LG does both 11- and 13-inch. However, The Elec believes that in the future this may change, with Samsung moving to produce both types of displays.
Ultimately, this is just a bunch of rumors, so we have to be very careful with this information of a thinner panel for the next-gen iPad Pro. What seems pretty clear here is that thinner screens are coming, but they might not arrive next year.
Whichever OLED approach you take, next year’s iPad Pros are likely to be significantly more expensive. Dual-layer OLED displays are much more expensive than current displays, and that cost will inevitably be passed on to the consumer.
The good news is that these screens are not only much brighter than single-layer panels, but they also last longer, making them high-quality, long-lasting OLED screens. Also, making them thinner would be an impressive leap forward in display technology.
