OLED approaching: preparations for new MacBook Air screen?
Which Mac will be the first to (finally) get an OLED display? So far, Apple has not installed any organic light-emitting diodes in its notebooks – in contrast to large parts of the high-end competition. Now a screen expert claims to have learned that an upcoming MacBook Air (MBA) will start things off – and not the more expensive devices in the MacBook Pro line.
Display expert: It starts with the MBA
As Ross Young, head of the consulting firm Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) tells his paying subscribers on Twitter, Apple is currently working on such a device. It is said to come with 13.4 inches instead of the current 13.6 inches on the MacBook Air M2, which currently uses an IPS LCD screen with 2560 by 1664 pixels at a maximum of 500 candelas. How this reduction came about remains an open question.
Young had already claimed at the end of 2022 that Apple would reach for the MacBook Air and upcoming iPad Pro models with 11.1 and 13 inches on the OLED shelf. He is currently assuming that sales will start in 2024, as Apple has high quality standards. With the MacBook Pro, it will supposedly take until 2026, believe it or not, until Apple switches to OLED. Organic light-emitting diodes are not yet what the iPhone group ultimately wants – they are aiming for large micro-LED screens later. Even OLED should deliver better contrast, crisper colors and less power consumption.
Supplier Samsung display?
Where the OLED screens for the MacBook Air are to come from has already been decided: according to the Korean electronics trade journal The Elec, it should be Samsung Display. Confusingly, however, there is talk of a 13.3-inch screen, not Young’s 13.4-inch prediction. LG Display, also a competitor from South Korea, could in turn build the OLEDs for Apple’s iPad Pro, but Samsung Display is also said to be working on an 11-inch OLED for Apple.
There had previously been speculation about a not quite 11-inch Samsung OLED display for an upcoming iPad Air, but the idea was allegedly buried so as not to take advantage of the iPad Air over the Pro models. But before the OLED journey starts with Apple’s larger devices – the technology is currently in the iPhone and the Apple Watch – there will be more LCDs. So the next thing – also according to Ross Young – is a MacBook Air with a 15-inch screen, which is next to the 13.6-inch version.
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