Why MacBooks won’t have OLED screens for years

Currently, Apple uses several types of screens on his MacBooks. On the most affordable computers, like the MacBook Air, the Cupertino giant relies on traditional LCD panels. For MacBook Pros, the brand instead uses miniLED panels, a backlighting technique made up of thousands of tiny LEDs, located under the LCD screen.

In the near future, Apple aims to build its computers around an OLED screen, as is already the case for iPhones. During’a webinar organized by Bloomberg IntelligenceRoss Young, the analyst specializing in the display industry, discussed the MacBook’s transition from LCD to OLED and Apple’s planned timeline.

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No OLED on MacBooks before 2026… if all goes well

According to the CEO of the analysis firm Display Supply Chain Consultants, it will still be several years before Apple begins the transition to OLED. The expert believes that it will take time for the group’s partners to design the necessary production lines in the manufacture of OLED panels.

Depending on the progress of the work, the first OLED screens for MacBook will be produced in 2026. At this stage, it is not impossible that Apple will drag its feet until 2027. Unless there is a surprise, OLED will first be reserved for MacBooks labeled Pro, the highest-end versions. So Apple needs 14- to 17-inch panels.

Thanks to OLED technology, MacBooks will be able to offer more vivid colors, higher contrasts, deeper blacks and reduced response times. Furthermore, OLED will allow Apple to reduce the energy consumption of the display, which should result in better battery life. Note that the endurance of MacBooks has already taken a serious leap forward with the integration of ARM chips designed by Apple Silicon, which consume less energy than Intel processors. In addition, we will point out that the miniLED screens of MacBook Pros already offer a high quality display. In other words, Apple isn’t necessarily in a rush to move to OLED.

Priority to iPads

For their part, iPads should begin their transition to OLED next year. A cluster of leaks indicates that Apple will launch first an iPad Pro with a 12.9-inch OLED screen in 2024. Two years later, it is the iPad Air and iPad mini which will make the big leap by giving up on LCD. Ross Young corroborated this launch schedule during his speech.

On the smartphone and connected watch side, iPhones and Apple Watches have already passed the OLED milestone A few years ago. Apple is now preparing the transition to microLED. If the leaks are confirmed, the microLED, already present on the Vision Pro, will first be integrated into a future Apple Watch Ultra. Ultimately, all of the brand’s products should feature a microLED screen.