OLED MacBook Pro Could Launch as Soon as 2026

Apple is "highly likely" to introduce new MacBook Pros featuring OLED displays in 2026, market research firm Omdia claims.

New MacBook Pros Launching Tomorrow With These 4 New Features 2
According to Omdia's Display long-term demand forecast tracker, demand for OLED displays in mobile devices is projected to grow by 37 percent from 2023 to 2031. This substantial growth reflects a significant shift as many tech companies, including Apple, are increasingly incorporating OLED panels into their high-end notebooks and tablets. Ricky Park, Senior Principal Analyst in Omdia's Display research practice, said:

Apple is highly likely to incorporate OLED into its MacBook Pro models as early as 2026. This move could spark a significant surge in OLED demand within the notebook market, potentially reaching over 60 million units by 2031.

OLED panels can individually control each pixel, resulting in more precise color reproduction and deeper blacks compared to other common display technologies. They also provide superior contrast, faster response times, better viewing angles, and greater design flexibility.

Apple's move to offer OLED displays on the iPad Pro for the first time is projected to triple demand for OLED tablets in 2024 compared to the previous year. The company is expected to bring OLED display technology to most of its tablet lineup, including the iPad mini and iPad Air. This decision is expected to influence competitors' OLED adoption strategies and drive tablet OLED demand to exceed 30 million units by 2029.

A report from last week claimed that Samsung has started developing a new 8-inch OLED display panel for the ‌iPad mini‌. The same report predicted that Apple would update the ‌iPad mini‌ and ‌iPad Air‌ with OLED technology in 2026. Last year, Samsung was rumored to be investing $3.14 billion into its facility in Asan, South Korea to produce OLED panels for upcoming 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with OLED displays.

Related Roundup: MacBook Pro
Tags: OLED, Omdia
Buyer's Guide: MacBook Pro (Buy Now)
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Top Rated Comments

neuropsychguy Avatar
10 months ago

The question is why they are so late in the use of OLED technology.
Here are some possibilities. Only people at Apple can provide answers.

* Brightness of the screen is one factor. Larger OLED monitors cannot get anywhere close to as bright as Apple's current monitors. The OLED iPad Pros are 1000 nits / 1600 HDR peak, but it's not clear if that brightness can be hit and maintained yet with the larger screens in MBPs. I'm not aware of any laptop with 14+ inch screens with OLED brightness of 1000+ nits. Anyone know of any? If I had to guess, I'd guess this is the primary issue.
* Risk of burn-in is another factor. That's greatly reduced now with newer OLED technology, but it's a consideration for devices like laptops/desktops rather than phones or watches.
* OLED also don't last as long as mini-LED. I'm not sure if the lifespan is shorter enough to really be an issue, but it's another possible consideration.
* Production costs are a factor, considering Apple's quality requirements.
* It's probable Apple wanted to switch to micro-LED instead of OLED, but clearly that hasn't panned out yet with any sort of mass-production yields.
Score: 28 Votes (Like | Disagree)
rosuna Avatar
10 months ago
The question is why they are so late in the use of OLED technology.
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mazz0 Avatar
10 months ago
2026 is not "soon".
Score: 21 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DEMinSoCAL Avatar
10 months ago
OLED panels are finding their way into competitors LOW END laptops (not just high end). It's not rocket science and it's bewildering why it takes Apple years to incorporate this technology in their products. If you want to claim that Apple uses "better OLED" (tandem), Dell just introduced their XPS 13 with Snapdragon with a tandem OLED. It takes Dell one cycle to do it, but it takes Apple years?
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmChimera Avatar
10 months ago

OLED panels are finding their way into competitors LOW END laptops (not just high end). It's not rocket science and it's bewildering why it takes Apple years to incorporate this technology in their products. If you want to claim that Apple uses "better OLED" (tandem), Dell just introduced their XPS 13 with Snapdragon with a tandem OLED. It takes Dell one cycle to do it, but it takes Apple years?
That Dell has a max brightness of 400 nits. It’s not in the same league.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MayaUser Avatar
10 months ago
Apple , stop messing around with old tech and try to do anything to go into the future...microLed for 2026 is douable on these kind of devices
Or at least into your Pro Xdr display
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)