Apple is preparing to launch an iMac featuring an OLED panel with higher brightness, according to ZDNet Korea.
Apple has apparently requested that Samsung Display, LG Display, and other suppliers produce 24-inch OLED panel samples suitable for a future iMac model using their mass-production facilities. This would be the biggest ever OLED display offered on an Apple device.
Specifically, Apple asked suppliers for 24-inch OLED panels with 600 nits of brightness and around 218 pixels-per-inch (PPI). By comparison, the current iMac features a 24-inch LCD display with 500 nits of brightness and 218 PPI.
Samsung Display is expected to respond first, planning to produce 220 PPI samples on its large-format Quantum Dot OLED (QD-OLED) production lines and ship them to Apple in the second half of 2026. This would be a considerable step up from the 160 PPI QD-OLED panels it currently mass-produces for monitors. SEMES announced earlier this month that it had shipped inkjet printing equipment to Samsung capable of supporting the higher pixel density.
LG Display's samples are expected to follow those of Samsung, and may not be as bright due to using color filters rather than a quantum dot color conversion layer. Instead of using its existing 4-stack W-OLED panels, the company reportedly plans to compete using a still-in-development 5-stack design that adds a green layer for better brightness. LG Display is also developing "eLEAP" technology, referred to internally as "fLEAP," which eliminates the need for Fine Metal Masks (FMM), for a selection of future Apple device displays, including the iMac and MacBook.
Apple purportedly wants to launch the OLED iMac in 2029 or 2030. For now, the iMac is due an upgrade to the M5 chip. Apple last refreshed the machine with the M4 chip and a 12MP Center Stage camera in October 2024.
