The iMac is one of Apple’s most iconic designs, especially when it was redesigned around Apple Silicon in 2021. Now, according to The Elec, Apple is looking to make the iMac even better as Apple is looking into Samsung Display and LG Display towards developing an OLED display for the iMac. This will be a huge upgrade for the iMac, as the iMac currently features LED-backlit LCD technology. The 24-inch (technically 23.5-inch according to the specs) display on the current iMac maxes out at 500 nits of brightness, and this report mentioned that the newer OLED display panel would go up to 600 nits, which would be more in line with the Studio Display. However, the Studio Display also uses inferior LCD technology.
Speaking of which, last week, leaked internal code revealed that the next-generation Studio Display would support both SDR and HDR reference modes, which suggested that the upcoming Studio Display would feature mini-LED. In my opinion, that would be unusual, and here’s why: mini-LED display technology is simply a step up from LED since mini-LED uses local dimming zones to improve brightness and contrast ratios; however, that could create blooming effects that just feel unnatural, especially in deep black backgrounds. On the other hand, we’ve already seen the benefits of OLED display as it’s been on smartphones for years. Since all the pixels in OLED displays are individually lit, this would drastically improve efficiency levels, brightness, color accuracy, and contrast ratios that LED just can’t achieve.
OLED came to the iPad Pro last year in the form of tandem OLED displays, and we expect the M6 Pro/Max-based MacBook Promodels to feature OLED displays as soon as late next year. The MacBook Air will definitely follow suit in the future. Not to mention that OLED TVs are starting to become more mainstream and are now cheaper to produce. So instead using mini-LED displays, what if the next Studio Display features an OLED display that’s advanced in some way, perhaps tandem OLED technology with double the brightness? This would make perfect sense since announcing this Studio Display around next summer would give us a “teaser” for the MacBook Pro’s next major revision. With that said, having an OLED display just at 600 nits should allow the iMac to still be around the same starting price as before.
We haven’t heard any rumors about whether Apple will update the iMac with the M5 chip, but with the recent rumor of the revival of the iMac Pro, the next year or two is going to be huge for Apple’s all-in-one.
