Apple may adopt Hybird OLED technology on iPad
It was previously reported that Apple is testing OLED panels for future iPad series products, hoping to use OLED panels with a dual-stack structure on the iPad series. This is different from the single-layer structure used by most smartphones at this stage, and at the same time, the brightness is doubled and the service life will be four times as long. Samsung has restarted the development of 10-inch OLED panels, and its dual-stack structure OLED panels will have two emission layers (EML).
According to The Elec, Apple’s iPad product line will gradually transition to OLED screens, possibly using Hybrid OLED technology, which means OLED panels that mix rigid OLED panels and flexible OLED panel technologies. The substrate materials of rigid OLED panels and flexible OLED panels are different. The former is glass and the latter is plastic, mainly polyimide, which will be encapsulated for protection. Hybrid OLED technology will use glass substrates for rigid OLED panels, as well as thin-film encapsulation of flexible OLED panels.
At present, both Samsung and LG are developing 2mm glass substrates, which are thinner than the common 5mm, and there is still a long way to go before commercialization. It is estimated that it will take at least a year to complete development, which means that the first iPad with an OLED screen will not come out until 2024 at the earliest. Panels using Hybrid OLED technology are expected to be thinner than rigid OLED panels while being cheaper than flexible OLED panels. However, from the perspective of product design, flexible OLED panels will have more advantages. If all existing problems can be solved, Apple may also completely adopt flexible OLED panels.
