OLED 10.9-Inch iPad Rumored for Early 2022, 12.9-Inch iPad Pro and 16-Inch MacBook Pro Could Follow

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Earlier today, DigiTimes shared a preview of an upcoming report claiming that Apple is working on both iPad and Mac notebook models with OLED displays that could launch starting in 2022. The full report from DigiTimes is now available, and it includes several new alleged details about Apple's plans.

Oled iPads and MackBook Pro
According to the report, the first of these devices to adopt an OLED display is likely to be a 10.9-inch ‌iPad‌, presumably an updated version of the iPad Air. The updated ‌iPad‌ is said to be planned to go into production in the fourth quarter of this year with a launch coming in early 2022. In addition to the 10.9-inch ‌iPad‌, Apple is also said to be considering using OLED displays for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The sources pointed out that the first device to come with an OLED panel is likely to be a 10.9-inch iPad, set to begin volume production in the fourth quarter of 2021 for an official release in 2022.

The US brand reportedly is also considering adopting OLED panels for its 12.9-inch iPad Pro and 16- to 17-inch MacBook Pro scheduled for release in 2022, but have not made a final decision, the sources noted.

While rumors of OLED displays for Apple's larger portables have only recently started to surface, the company has been rumored for some time to be transitioning to mini-LED displays on its iPads and Macs. ‌DigiTimes‌ says that the two display technologies will exist side-by-side, "each targeting different customer groups."

A number of sources including ‌DigiTimes‌ have indicated that a 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ with a mini-LED display is coming in the first half of this year, and ‌DigiTimes‌ says 14-inch and 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ models coming in the second half of the year will also adopt mini-LED.

Related Roundups: iPad Air , iPad Pro, MacBook Pro
Tag: DigiTimes
Buyer's Guide: iPad Air (Neutral), iPad Pro (Buy Now), MacBook Pro (Caution)
Related Forums: iPad, MacBook Pro

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Top Rated Comments

cmaier Avatar
cmaier
64 months ago

Apple doesn't develop tech. They do testing to see which suppliers have the best tech, but they don't develop them. It's like building a PC.
Apple develops a ton of tech. Including microprocessors, customized LCDs, custom display driver circuitry, GPUs, apple pencil, etc. etc. Just because they don’t manufacture those things doesn’t mean they didn’t develop them.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
cmaier
64 months ago

Wrong. Apple can make a few worthless customizations to a manufacturer's reference design to call it customized, but the underlying technology belongs to the manufacturer to improve yield rates, reduce ramp-up risk and lower costs.

As the great Elon Musk said, manufacturing is the most difficult and important part of tech development. Designing is one the easiest steps. It's the magic of manufacturing that determines the limits of your design. Designers only need to carefully play around the limits of the manufacturing process, but their overall impact to performance and quality is very minimal.
IE. Look at AMD vs Intel processors. When AMD had the process advantage, their CPUs started outperforming Intel's.
I worked at AMD designing processors. The statement above is so lacking in factual basis it’s unclear where even to begin to address it. But simply comparing AMD to M1 now, and seeing how apple trounces AMD in performance per watt, disproves your entire hypothesis.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calstanford Avatar
calstanford
64 months ago
This rumor site is becoming sadly quite useless.

Come on. Think before you post.
So this year we're going Mini-LED after 15+ years on LCD. Next year we're going OLED. The year or two after we're doing Micro-LED?

Who believes this crap?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sander Avatar
Sander
64 months ago

It's the magic of manufacturing that determines the limits of your design. Designers only need to carefully play around the limits of the manufacturing process, but their overall impact to performance and quality is very minimal.
"Anyone can write a book, it's the intricacies of the printing industry which makes the real difference." OK.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
akbarali.ch Avatar
akbarali.ch
64 months ago
Why they keep changing the screen size at almost every new iPad. Is there a reason? Earlier, It would remain constant for many cycles. I can understand changing it when there's a change in the bezel size. but they seem to be changing it for almost every release.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theSeb Avatar
theSeb
64 months ago

The M1 is on a 5nm process while AMD's latest are on 7nm. You haven't disproven anything; in fact, you only made my argument stronger.
The M1's magic comes from TSMC's 5nm process. Anyone can design something similar to the M1. It's not hard. Fab-less "Designing" is more about cost-benefit analysis than actual technological progress. It most certainly is not as hard as designing the actual fabbing process (There is only 1 company in the world that can do it), nor is it that important. Anyone can do it.
It’s better to admit you are wrong and have no idea what you are talking about rather than doubling down on intellectual dishonesty.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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