Apple may launch a MacBook Pro with a high-end OLED display as soon as 2022, according to recent reports. DigiTimes believes Apple is considering an OLED display for a 16- to 17-inch MacBook Pro, purportedly scheduled for release next year.
While rumors of OLED displays for Apple's larger portable devices 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. A number of sources have indicated that a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a mini-LED display is coming in the first half of this year, and new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models coming in the second half of the year are also expected to adopt mini-LED.
Given that mini-LED backlit displays offer many of the same advantages as OLED, such as high brightness and high contrast, Apple may eventually use a mix of both OLED and mini-LED display technologies across its Mac and iPad product lineups at different price points. DigiTimes has now clarified Apple's position, saying that the two display technologies will exist side-by-side, "each targeting different customer groups."
Apple has gradually increased its adoption of OLED displays, starting with the Apple Watch in 2015. Two years later, the iPhone X became the first iPhone with an OLED display, and Apple has since expanded the display technology across the entire iPhone 12 lineup.
Macs and iPads currently use LCD displays, perhaps due in part to large OLED displays being expensive to manufacture. High-end OLED TVs often cost thousands of dollars, for example, with LCD versions at equal screen sizes typically being priced far more cheaply.
OLED displays have several benefits over LCDs, such as higher brightness, improved contrast with deeper blacks, and wider viewing angles. Apple's exact plan for offering new display technologies is currently unknown, but there is mounting evidence that OLED displays will be involved in some capacity within the next couple of years.
