Back in November, a report said Apple plans to introduce mini-LED and OLEDs to iPads by 2021. However, an update from several tipsters revealed that the iPad will have OLED displays only by 2022. Now, a report from Korea has more details regarding the display tech that’s coming to the iPads.
According to the report, Apple has made the decision of introducing OLEDs to iPads from 2022. In fact, it has already made requests to suppliers like Samsung Display and LG Display. What is interesting here is the new OLED tech that Apple is reportedly going to use.
Precisely, Apple will use “hybrid OLED” displays on the 2022 iPads. These are said to be thinner than typical OLED displays. Samsung will reportedly start supplying these panels in 2022 while LG Display will join a year later. A source for the report says Samsung has already started taking necessary steps for it.
Also, if another source is true, Apple will use Samsung’s panel on one iPad model in 2022. Following this, both Samsung and LG will begin the full-scale supply from 2023. Speaking of which, the hybrid OLED panels will reportedly be a combination of flexible and rigid OLED. Basically, the terms refer to the rigid(glass) or flexible substrates that are being used.
The latter obviously is about 3x times costlier than rigid OLED and can withstand more impact. Anyway, the new panel from both the companies will have a rigid glass substrate(TFT- Thin Film Transistor). On top of this, it is said to be applied with TFE (Thin Film Encapsulation) technology.
EDITOR’S PICK: Apple will reportedly contribute half of total flexible OLED smartphones in 2021
Simply put, the TFE is used in flexible OLEDs to reduce the overall thickness whilst not compromising on the rigidity. Samsung calls it the UT(Ultra Thin) panel while LG says it as ATO (Advanced Thin OLED).
Either way, it looks like 2022 iPads will be the first to use OLED displays after a lot of rumors. Also, you can take a look at the display transition of its portfolio of products below:
- First AMOLED product by Apple- Apple Watch 2015.
- First OLED iPhone- iPhone X(2017)
- Current Apple watch– use LGD’s Flexible OLED(2020)
- First mini-LED MacBook– 14-inch(rumored-2021)
- First OLED iPad-Expected-2022.
That said, rumors aside, Apple’s transition from LCD to LED tech has been a smooth and cleverly positioned strategy starting from 2015. Besides, the report also mentions the possibility of Apple using mini-LED on iPads in 2021. These are basically a film of backlit LEDs over a Liquid Crystal Layer(LCD).
