OLED 10.9-Inch iPad Rumored for Early 2022, 12.9-Inch iPad Pro and 16-Inch MacBook Pro Could Follow

Earlier today, DigiTimes shared a preview of an upcoming report claiming that Apple is working on both iPad and Mac notebook models with OLED displays that could launch starting in 2022. The full report from DigiTimes is now available, and it includes several new alleged details about Apple's plans.

Oled iPads and MackBook Pro
According to the report, the first of these devices to adopt an OLED display is likely to be a 10.9-inch ‌iPad‌, presumably an updated version of the iPad Air. The updated ‌iPad‌ is said to be planned to go into production in the fourth quarter of this year with a launch coming in early 2022. In addition to the 10.9-inch ‌iPad‌, Apple is also said to be considering using OLED displays for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro and the 16-inch MacBook Pro.

The sources pointed out that the first device to come with an OLED panel is likely to be a 10.9-inch iPad, set to begin volume production in the fourth quarter of 2021 for an official release in 2022.

The US brand reportedly is also considering adopting OLED panels for its 12.9-inch iPad Pro and 16- to 17-inch MacBook Pro scheduled for release in 2022, but have not made a final decision, the sources noted.

While rumors of OLED displays for Apple's larger portables have only recently started to surface, the company has been rumored for some time to be transitioning to mini-LED displays on its iPads and Macs. ‌DigiTimes‌ says that the two display technologies will exist side-by-side, "each targeting different customer groups."

A number of sources including ‌DigiTimes‌ have indicated that a 12.9-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ with a mini-LED display is coming in the first half of this year, and ‌DigiTimes‌ says 14-inch and 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌ models coming in the second half of the year will also adopt mini-LED.

Related Roundups: iPad Air , iPad Pro, MacBook Pro
Related Forums: iPad, MacBook Pro

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.2 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features on Your iPhone

Thursday December 11, 2025 8:49 am PST by
Apple seeded the second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to developers earlier this week, meaning the update will be released to the general public very soon. Apple confirmed iOS 26.2 would be released in December, but it did not provide a specific date. We expect the update to be released by early next week. iOS 26.2 includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, such as a new...
AirPods Pro Firmware Feature

Apple Releases New Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3

Thursday December 11, 2025 11:28 am PST by
Apple today released new firmware designed for the AirPods Pro 3 and the prior-generation AirPods Pro 2. The AirPods Pro 3 firmware is 8B30, up from 8B25, while the AirPods Pro 2 firmware is 8B28, up from 8B21. There's no word on what's include in the updated firmware, but the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods Pro 3 are getting expanded support for Live Translation in the European Union in iOS...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
iOS 26

iOS 26.4 and iOS 27 Features Revealed in New Leak

Friday December 12, 2025 10:56 am PST by
Macworld's Filipe Espósito today revealed a handful of features that Apple is allegedly planning for iOS 26.4, iOS 27, and even iOS 28. The report said the features are referenced within the code for a leaked internal build of iOS 26 that is not meant to be seen by the public. However, it appears that Espósito and/or his sources managed to gain access to it, providing us with a sneak peek...
iOS 26

Apple Releases iOS 26.2 With Alarms for Reminders, Lock Screen Changes, Enhanced Safety Alerts and More

Friday December 12, 2025 10:10 am PST by
Apple today released iOS 26.2, the second major update to the iOS 26 operating system that came out in September, iOS 26.2 comes a little over a month after iOS 26.1 launched. ‌iOS 26‌.2 is compatible with the ‌iPhone‌ 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation ‌iPhone‌ SE. The new software can be downloaded on eligible iPhones over-the-air by going to Settings >...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected [Updated]

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
AirTag 2 Mock Feature

Apple AirTag 2: Four New Features Found in iOS 26 Code

Thursday December 11, 2025 10:31 am PST by
The AirTag 2 will include a handful of new features that will improve tracking capabilities, according to a new report from Macworld. The site says that it was able to access an internal build of iOS 26, which includes references to multiple unreleased products. Here's what's supposedly coming: An improved pairing process, though no details were provided. AirTag pairing is already...
iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
macOS Tahoe 26 Thumb

Apple Releases macOS Tahoe 26.2 With Edge Light

Friday December 12, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Apple today released macOS Tahoe 26.2, the second major update to the macOS Tahoe operating system that came out in September. macOS Tahoe 26.2 comes five weeks after Apple released macOS Tahoe 26.1. Mac users can download the macOS Tahoe update by using the Software Update section of System Settings. macOS Tahoe 26.2 includes Edge Light, a feature that illuminates your face with soft...

Top Rated Comments

cmaier Avatar
62 months ago

Apple doesn't develop tech. They do testing to see which suppliers have the best tech, but they don't develop them. It's like building a PC.
Apple develops a ton of tech. Including microprocessors, customized LCDs, custom display driver circuitry, GPUs, apple pencil, etc. etc. Just because they don’t manufacture those things doesn’t mean they didn’t develop them.
Score: 23 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
62 months ago

Wrong. Apple can make a few worthless customizations to a manufacturer's reference design to call it customized, but the underlying technology belongs to the manufacturer to improve yield rates, reduce ramp-up risk and lower costs.

As the great Elon Musk said, manufacturing is the most difficult and important part of tech development. Designing is one the easiest steps. It's the magic of manufacturing that determines the limits of your design. Designers only need to carefully play around the limits of the manufacturing process, but their overall impact to performance and quality is very minimal.
IE. Look at AMD vs Intel processors. When AMD had the process advantage, their CPUs started outperforming Intel's.
I worked at AMD designing processors. The statement above is so lacking in factual basis it’s unclear where even to begin to address it. But simply comparing AMD to M1 now, and seeing how apple trounces AMD in performance per watt, disproves your entire hypothesis.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
calstanford Avatar
62 months ago
This rumor site is becoming sadly quite useless.

Come on. Think before you post.
So this year we're going Mini-LED after 15+ years on LCD. Next year we're going OLED. The year or two after we're doing Micro-LED?

Who believes this crap?
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Sander Avatar
62 months ago

It's the magic of manufacturing that determines the limits of your design. Designers only need to carefully play around the limits of the manufacturing process, but their overall impact to performance and quality is very minimal.
"Anyone can write a book, it's the intricacies of the printing industry which makes the real difference." OK.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
akbarali.ch Avatar
62 months ago
Why they keep changing the screen size at almost every new iPad. Is there a reason? Earlier, It would remain constant for many cycles. I can understand changing it when there's a change in the bezel size. but they seem to be changing it for almost every release.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
theSeb Avatar
62 months ago

The M1 is on a 5nm process while AMD's latest are on 7nm. You haven't disproven anything; in fact, you only made my argument stronger.
The M1's magic comes from TSMC's 5nm process. Anyone can design something similar to the M1. It's not hard. Fab-less "Designing" is more about cost-benefit analysis than actual technological progress. It most certainly is not as hard as designing the actual fabbing process (There is only 1 company in the world that can do it), nor is it that important. Anyone can do it.
It’s better to admit you are wrong and have no idea what you are talking about rather than doubling down on intellectual dishonesty.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)