Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) said today in its newest quarterly OLED Shipment Report that Apple is expected to release its first OLED iPad in 2023. The iPad is expected to be a 10.9-inch AMOLED iPad, which could be an iPad Air.
Currently, Apple’s use of OLED displays is limited to the iPhone, the Apple Watch, and the MacBook Pro Touch Bar, but Apple has reportedly been working to bring OLED to the Mac and iPad platforms.
The many rumors we’ve seen so far vary as to the time frame for an OLED iPad release. Some have indicated 2022 is the release year, while Apple industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in March said Apple is expected to begin offering OLED screens on iPads in 2022. Kuo said Apple’s first OLED iPad would be an iPad Air, and that Apple would continue to use mini-LED technology for the iPad Pro lineup.
While OLED technology is expensive it offers improved brightness, higher contrast, deeper blacks, and wider viewing angles over other technologies.
The DSCC report also indicates that Apple will drop the Touch Bar from the MacBook Pro in the future. Apple is widely expected to do away with the OLED Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro models expected in 2021, returning to a standard function row of physical keys.