OLED MacBook Air Reportedly Now in Development as Apple Plans to Bring New Display Technology to Multiple Product Lines

Samsung Display is developing a 13.3-inch OLED panel for a future MacBook Air model amid plans to switch several of Apple's product lines to the display technology, The Elec reports.

LG Display is apparently developing OLED displays for both of the next-generation iPad Pro models in 11- and 13-inch sizes, and lacks sufficient production capacity for the ‌MacBook Air‌, leading Apple to choose Samsung for the device instead. Samsung Display is also purportedly developing an 11-inch ‌OLED‌ panel for a future iPad model planned for launch next year, suggesting that it could take a share of the 11-inch ‌iPad Pro‌ orders from LG.

Apple apparently plans to sequentially introduce new ‌iPad Pro‌, MacBook Pro, and ‌MacBook Air‌ models with ‌OLED‌ displays. The Elec is unsure when the ‌OLED‌ ‌MacBook Air‌ will be released, but suggests it could be around two years away due to Apple's product development timescales. Display analyst Ross Young has previously said that he expects a ‌MacBook Air‌ with an ‌OLED‌ panel to launch as soon as 2024.

It is believed that Apple originally wanted Samsung Display to supply a 10.86-inch OLED panel for a future iPad Air model, which would have been its first ‌OLED‌ ‌iPad‌, before the project was scrapped due to the single stack panel's price and quantity issues, as well as concerns around the need to differentiate the iPad Air from the ‌iPad Pro‌. Apple is now said to have moved to a more reliable two-stack ‌OLED‌ panel that is expected to debut on the ‌iPad Pro‌ next year.

The Elec also claims that the project to develop an 13.3-inch ‌OLED‌ panel for a ‌MacBook Air‌ is also effectively a test for mass production of ‌OLED‌ panels for future ‌MacBook Pro‌ models.