Reputable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claimed that Apple would launch the first MacBook with an OLED display as early as next year. This would be a huge breakthrough in display technology for the Mac lineup. The iPhones have had OLED displays (Super Retina Displays) with superior contrast ratio and color accuracy since the iPhone X. Currently, the most advanced displays that the Mac and iPad offer are mini-LED backlit displays, a.k.a. Liquid Retina XDR displays and those models with this display technology are the 14″/16″ MacBook Pro and the 12.9″ iPad Pro.
Last month, Kuo reported that Apple would plan to introduce larger 11.1″ and 13″ iPad Pro models, as well as a new 13″ MacBook Air, and all three would feature the newest OLED displays. By bringing that technology to the larger products, each pixel would self-emit to display an image. Therefore, no backlight would be required, leading to an improved contrast ratio and even more energy efficiency. Although OLED displays have been prone to burn-in, it wouldn’t be a problem for Apple to include hardware/software optimizations as well as some screensavers that Macs have had for years. (Everyone should remember why CRTs would need screensavers.)
It’s most likely that the MacBook Pro would introduce this technology, and years later, that display technology would trickle down to the more affordable MacBook Air. We could also see the same thing with the iPad lineup, starting with the Pro, and down to the base model. In other news, we could see another display technology that Apple is planning to implement on the next Apple Watch Ultra – microLED, which would offer improvements in overall brightness and contrast ratio than existing OLED displays on any Apple Watch models to this day.
