LG Working to Bring OLED Displays to Future iPad and MacBook Models

LG is working to supply Apple with OLED display panels for two iPad models before providing larger panels for the company's first OLED MacBook around 2025, The Elec reports.

LG Display is reportedly aiming to supply Apple with Gen 8.5 OLED panels for Apple's first OLED MacBook. The device is said to be scheduled to launch "around 2025."

LG has been evaluating the deposition process to manufacture Gen 8.5 OLED panels at its Paju facility since December 2021, The Elec claims. The evaluation procedure will purportedly take up to a year to complete. Previous reports have indicated that LG's factory in Paju, South Korea, is instrumental in Apple's plans to offer iPads with OLED displays, as well as to increase its supply of OLED displays for future iPhone models.

The Elec also explained that LG is planning to use its Gen 6 OLED production lines for 11-inch and 12.9-inch ‌iPad‌ models, which will debut at some time earlier than the first OLED MacBook. Since the launch of the OLED MacBooks around 2025 will come after Apple's first two OLED iPads, LG is planning to use larger substrates such as Gen 8.5 since more panels can be cut out per substrate in less time.

Yesterday, renowned Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo tweeted that the launch of Apple's first MacBook with an OLED display is dependent on the launch of 11-inch and 12.9-inch OLED ‌iPad‌ models in 2024, which correlates with today's report from The Elec:

I think the release date of the OLED MacBook is mainly dependent on the schedule of iPad’s adoption of OLED. MacBook would use OLED in 2025 at the earliest if Apple could successfully release 12.9-inch & 11-inch OLED iPads in 2024.

— 郭明錤 (Ming-Chi Kuo) (@mingchikuo) March 17, 2022

LG is believed to be planning to begin mass production of LTPO OLED panels for iPads between 2023 and 2024, making the rumored 2025 timeframe for the launch of the first OLED MacBook plausible.