According to DigiTimes, Apple is planning to transition five of its products to OLED displays over the next three years, which will be the iPad mini, iPad Air, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and iMac. This report corroborates Bloomberg’s previous report from a few months ago. Here’s an estimated timeframe on when each of these devices will adopt OLED technology:
- 2026: iPad mini
- Late 2026 to 2027: MacBook Pro
- 2027: iPad Air
- 2027 to 2028: iMac
- 2028: MacBook Air
Mark Gurman from Bloomberg claimed that both the iPad mini and the MacBook Pro would be next to feature OLED displays. Yesterday, we reported that Samsung would start production of OLED displays for future MacBook Pro models, so this would line up perfectly with Gurman’s claim. Don’t expect the upcoming M5 Pro/Max models to feature OLED displays, as Apple is planning an entire redesign for the upcoming M6 Pro/Max models as early as late 2026. The iPad mini is set to feature an all-new design that would be more water-resistant, and that would be a story for later. However, the iPad Air would have to wait a bit longer as the next-generation iPad Air is expected to still feature LCD technology, and it will likely feature the M4 chip since the current iPad Pro models feature the M5 chip.
For the iMac, Apple is developing 24-inch OLED display panels that will go up to 600 nits of maximum brightness, and the current iMac models feature LCD displays with up to 500 nits of brightness. Last, but not least, the MacBook Air is expected to transition to OLED displays as early as 2028, which would make sense since Apple brings more advanced technologies to its higher-end machines first before trickling down to its lower-end models down the road.
This is shaping up to be an exciting era where OLED displays will become more standard.
