April Launch: iPad Pro’s OLED Displays Ready for Production

Apple plans to refresh its entire iPad lineup this year, including the iPad Air 6, iPad mini 7, iPad 11, and the highly anticipated OLED iPad Pro models. These OLED iPad Pros will come in 11-inch and 12.9-inch sizes, equipped with the M3 processor and featuring LTPO screen technology. They are the first in their category to utilize tandem stack technology for OLED.

As reported by The Elec, the OLED displays for the iPad Pro models have entered the production stage, with new products expected to ship in April. Samsung has begun manufacturing these OLED displays this week, while LG has almost simultaneously started producing 13-inch OLED screens, with the 11-inch versions to follow later. As this is the first mass production of OLED panels used by iPads for both Samsung and LG, initial production volumes might be unstable.

This mass production timeline aligns with previous leaks about the release of the OLED iPad Pro models, rumored to launch in the second quarter. The expected shipment volume for the OLED iPad Pro models this year is 8 million units, 2 million lower than the industry’s initial expectation of 10 million units. The global economic downturn has also led to a slump in Apple product sales.

The OLED iPad Pro reportedly uses Hybrid OLED technology, a blend of rigid and flexible OLED panel technologies. It features a dual-stack structure, unlike the single-stack structure commonly used in most smartphones, which not only doubles the brightness but also quadruples the lifespan. Compared to Samsung, LG has more experience in dual-stack OLED panels.

In the last fiscal quarter, iPad revenue declined by 10%, the most significant drop among hardware products, and Apple hopes the OLED iPad Pro will reverse this trend. Additionally, the OLED iPad Pro is seen as a litmus test for Apple, with plans to apply OLED panels to MacBook products in the future.