MacBook Air With OLED Display Reportedly Delayed

The wait for a MacBook Air with an OLED display might take longer than initially expected.

MacBook Air 15 Inch Feature Purple
Korean website The Elec yesterday cited an industry source who said the first MacBook Air with an OLED display will likely be released around 2029, instead of by 2027 as originally planned. The report said Apple made this decision as a result of lower-than-expected sales of the first iPad Pro models with OLED displays, which launched last year.

Essentially, the report claims that since OLED displays did not help to boost iPad Pro sales as much as Apple anticipated, the company has decided to delay bringing the expensive technology to the MacBook Air. However, it is unclear if there are any other reasons for the apparent delay that are not mentioned in the report.

While the MacBook Air will apparently stick with LCD technology for the next four years, the report claims that Apple plans to use "oxide TFT" technology for 2027 models. This upgrade would allow for improved color accuracy, higher contrast ratio, more uniform display brightness, and lower power consumption for longer battery life. So, while no OLED, the MacBook Air should still receive meaningful display improvements in two years from now.

MacBook Pro models with OLED displays are still expected to launch next year.

In the meantime, Apple will likely announce updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models with the M4 chip within the next month or two.

Related Roundup: MacBook Air
Related Forum: MacBook Air

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Top Rated Comments

brilliantthings Avatar
3 weeks ago
Or maybe the iPad Pros with OLED are not selling because they're too expensive
Score: 43 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DHagan4755 Avatar
3 weeks ago
Why not 2035 while we're at it? Sounds like a ridiculously long wait for something that seems so trivial.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
3 weeks ago

Essentially, the report claims that since OLED displays did not help to boost iPad Pro sales as much as Apple anticipated, the company has decided to delay bringing the expensive technology to the MacBook Air.
The real reason iPad Pro sales were not what Apple had anticipated is because they're still running a gimped OS, thus limiting the full potential the hardware is capable of. Why spend $1,000 on an iPad Pro ($1,298 with keyboard) when you can buy a 13-inch MacBook Air 16/256 for less.
Score: 22 Votes (Like | Disagree)
EugW Avatar
3 weeks ago
This sounds like conjecture. My own conjecture was that the MacBook Air wasn't planned to ship with OLED until around 2029 anyway.

Anyhow, I'm still annoyed Apple didn't ship the M4 iPad Pro with 12 GB or 16 GB base, given its price point. What makes it even worse is that Apple actually did ship some of them with 12 GB but chose instead to disable 4 GB of that.
Score: 19 Votes (Like | Disagree)
N0ughtsAndCr0sses Avatar
3 weeks ago
Take away that silly notch
Delay as much as you want
Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gleepskip Avatar
3 weeks ago
One of these days, it sure would be nice to see:

"An industry source said the [new Apple product] will likely be released later this year, instead of by 2027 as originally planned."
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)