Apple plans to launch a new iPad Pro in 2024, which will use OLED panels. The iPad product line is one of Apple’s important businesses, with annual sales of more than 70 million units. In the first fiscal quarter of the fiscal year 2023 ( from November 2022 to January 2023), the sales amount reached nearly $9.4 billion.
According to
Business Korea, Samsung, LG, and BOE are currently competing for orders for Apple’s OLED displays. It is understood that Apple has ordered 11-inch and 12.9-inch OLED panels from Samsung and LG for iPad Pro, and BOE is temporarily excluded.
According to past statements, Apple may adopt Hybrid OLED technology, which means an OLED panel that mixes rigid OLED panel and flexible OLED panel technologies. Apple hopes to use a dual-layer OLED panel on the iPad series, which is different from the single-layer structure used by most smartphones at this stage. At the same time, the brightness will be doubled and the service life will be quadrupled.
Apple also intends to use OLED displays on Macbook models due in 2026, estimated to be 14-inch and 16-inch in size. The OLED panel order battle between Samsung, LG, and BOE will also shift to a new battlefield. As another important business of Apple, the sales of the Mac product line in a fiscal quarter are about $7.7 billion.
Samsung and LG are planning to manufacture OLED panels for the iPad series on the current 6th generation (1500mm × 1850mm) production line. In order to ensure sufficient supply, they will also invest in expanding production capacity. If Apple decides to use OLED displays on Macbook models, then the 8th generation production line will be needed to manufacture larger OLED panels. Samsung and LG are currently weighing the timing of investing in the 8th-generation production line.
