Samsung Display will reportedly start mass production of OLED panels for the next iPad Air refresh in January 2027.
Unlike the iPad Pro, Apple will use a standard OLED panel in the iPad Air to keep costs down.
OLED iPad Air is less than a year away
Apple plans to upgrade almost all its devices to OLED screens in the next few years. This even includes the MacBook Pro lineup, which should get a big design revamp later this year. As for iPads, rumors point to the iPad mini and iPad Air getting the OLED treatment next.
Further adding credence to the rumors, an ET News report citing industry sources claims Samsung Display will start making OLED panels destined for the iPad Air early next year.
Apple will then unveil the OLED iPad Air in Q1 or early Q2, almost a year after the M4 iPad Air‘s debut.
An industry source told ET News that Apple will use an OLED panel with lower specs than the one used in the iPad Pro. The latter’s steep price post the switch to OLED created a dent in its demand.
With the iPad Air selling more than the iPad Pro, Apple likely wants to keep its price intact despite the OLED upgrade.
“Next year’s iPad Air is scheduled to feature an OLED display characterized by a single-stack light-emitting layer, Low-Temperature Polycrystalline Silicon (LTPS) Thin-Film Transistors (TFTs), and a hybrid substrate,” the report said.
Samsung remains Apple’s primary OLED panel supplier
Apple already sources OLED panels for the iPhone and iPad Pro from Samsung Display. It will further deepen that partnership by sourcing foldable OLED panels for the upcoming iPhone Fold from Samsung’s display arm.
If anything, Samsung Display’s importance in Apple’s supply chain keeps growing. LG Display is an important display supplier for Apple, but it doesn’t provide panels for all products.
Rajesh has been writing about consumer technology for over a decade, with a strong focus on iPhones, Macs and Apple’s ecosystem. He enjoys digging into Apple software updates, hardware changes, and discovering new Mac apps that make work faster and more enjoyable.
