Apple’s mini-LED display was marketed as the most important upgrade on the 12.9-inch M1 iPad Pro, but a new report claims that Apple has already started developing new tablets that will ditch mini-LED.
Apple could replace mini-LED with OLED in 2023
The Elecreports that Apple is planning to launch both 11-inch and 12.9-inch OLED iPad Pro models in 2023, and Samsung is being tipped as the sole supplier of the upgraded displays.Apple is also believed to be working on even larger iPad Pro models with 14-inch and 16-inch displays for release in 2023. However, The Elec has made no mention of these variants, so it’s unclear whether OLED will be used on them too.
Either way, the switch to OLED on future iPad Pro models seems counterintuitive. Apple has spent years developing mini-LED displays, so ditching them on the iPad Pro so soon after launching is questionable.
Mini-LED 12.9-inch M1 iPad Pro vs LCD 11-inch M1 iPad Pro
The 2022 iPad Air will be Apple’s first OLED iPad
The good news for mini-LED is that Apple’s expected to adopt it on more affordable iPad models like the redesigned iPad mini 6 and entry-level iPad. One model that’ll skip the tech entirely is the iPad Air, according to today’s report.
Before adopting OLED on the iPad Pro series, Apple will release a 10.86-inch OLED iPad Air in 2022. The key difference between the two being that the next iPad Air will use rigid OLED, whereas the iPad Pro models are set to adopt flexible OLED tech.
Flexible OLED screens are what Apple uses on the iPhone 12 series. They enable thinner bezels by curving the display components into the body. In other words, expect the iPad Air bezels to be thicker than those found on the OLED iPad Pro.
