OLED is a new display technology, used to create thin, power efficient and bright displays. Today OLEDs are used in mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras and even TV sets - as OLEDs are considered the best display technology ever.
Apple's OLED iPhone
Apple's 10th anniversary iPhone X was the company's first OLED Phone - with a 5.8" 1125x2436 (458 PPI) flexible Super AMOLED display. Since then Apple has been adding more OLED iPhones, and as of 2021, the company's entire smartphone lineup adopts AMOLED displays.
The OLED Apple Watch
In April 2015 Apple launched its first wearable device, the Apple Watch which used a flexible AMOLED display (made by LG Display). All Apple Watch products to date continue to use flexible AMOLED displays. OLED displays are especially suitable for wearable devices - as the displays are thinner and lighter than LCD displays, and are more power efficient (especially if you tweak the UI to suit the special OLED properties). According to reports, Apple is developing next-generation MicroLED display technologies for future wearable devices.
Apple OLED MacBook Pro
Apple's MacBook Pro range of high-end laptops started adopting an OLED Touch Bar instead of the traditional function keys in 2016. The display itself is either a 13" or a 15" LCD.
The OLED strip is supported by most of Apple's applications and can show commonly used emojis in messaging applications, bookmarks while you browse and other context-activated options. It also includes a Touch ID sensor that is activated for example when you wish to pay online (on supported web stores). Apple released an API to developers can support the Touch Bar in third-party applications.
The latest Apple OLED news:
Apple announces its 2024 iPad Pro devices, with tandem AMOLED displays
Yesterday Apple officially announced its 2024 iPad Pro devices, Apple's first tablets with AMOLED displays. There are two devices, a 11" model (1668x2420) and a 13" model (2064x2752). Both OLEDs offer 120Hz and 1600 nits peak brightness - and a tandem architecture. Apple brands these displays as Ultra Retina Tandem OLEDs.
The new iPad Pro 2024 devices will ship next week, starting at $999 for the 11" model. Some of the models offer a matte finish (nano-texture glass coating).
Samsung Display established a dedicated research team to develop OLED products for Apple
According to reports from China, Samsung Display established a new R&D team dedicated to develop OLED products for Apple. The so-called "A Team" is part of the Giheung Research Institute in Yongin, Korea.
This is an interesting move by SDC. Apple is an extremely important customer for Samsung Display, of course, and up until recently SDC has been the leading supplier of OLED displays for Apple - winning the majority of orders for iPhone AMOLEDs. But now that Apple is starting to adopt OLEDs in IT products (starting with tablets) things are changing.
Demand for Apple's Vision Pro is lower than expected, cuts its 2024 production plans by 50%
In February 2024, Apple started to ship its VR headset, the Apple Vision Pro, with its two Sony 1.3" 4K OLED microdisplays. According to Ming-Chi Kuo, a respected Apple analyst, the market reaction to Apple's HMD was much lower than expected, and Apple decided to slash its production plan from 800,000 units in 2024 to about 400,000.
The Vision Pro has been shipping in the US only, but it seems the company prefers to cut production rather than start to ship the headsets globally - a sign that it does not expect demand to be higher outside of the US. According to Kuo, Apple is likely to cancel its plan to release a new version in 2025.
Apple develops a higher-efficiency LTPO backplane by adopting IGZO in the driving TFT
Apple was the first company to develop LTPO backplanes and it adopted this innovative and energy-efficient backplane technology back in 2018 in the Watch Series 4. LTPO combines Oxide-TFT and LTPS, by using the IGZO in some of the switching TFTs and LTPS in the remaining switching TFTs and all the driving TFTs. LTPO can reduce the power consumption by 5-15%, and enables variable refresh rate.
According to reports from Korea, Apple developed its 2nd-Gen LTPO backplane technology, that uses the IGZO in all the driving TFTs, and uses LTPS only in the remaining switching TFTs. This leads to higher efficiency compared to the first-generation LTPO backplane.
UBI: OLED tablet shipments to grow 7X in 2024, and continue to more than double by 2028
According to UBI Research, the OLED tablet panel market is set to grow quickly, more than doubling between 2024 (12 million units expected) to 2028 (28.4 million). That's a CAGR of 24.1%.
UBI says that the market in 2023 was only 1.8 million panels - so growth in 2024 will be dramatic (almost 7X), mostly thanks to Apple's adoption of OLEDs in some of its iPad modules (expected to be announced next month). Samsung will produce 11" panels for Apple, while LGD will produce larger 12.9" panels.
UBI: the foldable OLED market will grow to 52.7 million units in 2028, Samsung Display to remain the market leader
UBI Research released its latest foldable OLED shipments forecast, saying that it expects the market to grow from 27.4 million units in 2024 to 52.7 million 2028.
The market is dominated by Samsung Display, which shipped 13.4 million foldable OLEDs in 2023, and holds a 61% market. Samsung is followed by BOE (6.2 million, growing 3X from 2022), TCL CSOT (1.1 million) and Visionox (1.1 million). UBI expects Samsung Display to remain the clear leader in this market as it is the sole supplier to Samsung Electronics - and it is also expected that Samsung will be the exclusive supplier to Apple's future foldable iPhones.
Reports suggest low yields at SDC's fab causes Apple to delay the launch of its first AMOLED tablets
In January 2024 we reported that Samsung Display and LG Display have started to produce AMOLED displays for Apple's future iPads, to be announced later this year. Earlier expectations were for Apple to order a total of 10 million iPad AMOLED displays in 2024 from both LGD and SDC, with LGD getting around 60% of the orders.
Apple was aiming to launch the new OLED iPads this month, but have now reportedly delayed the release to May, as Samsung is suffering from low yields for the 11" AMOLED panels, mostly due to the tandem stack architecture.
Reports suggest BOE and perhaps Tianma to supply all the AMOLEDs for Apple's iPhone SE 4
A report from China suggests that Samsung will not produce any AMOLEDs for the upcoming Apple iPhone SE 4, as the Korean maker asked for around $30 per unit (6.1-inch) which was too high for Apple. Apple apparantly wanted to pay only $25, and it is estimated that BOE will supply most of the units, with some orders perhaps going to Tianma.
According to reports, Samsung estimated that it will not be able to make a profit in this project and decided to stop the negotiations when Apple insisted on a low price.
Apple cancels its microLED wearable display project
Apple entered into the microLED display industry in 2014, following the company's LuxVue acquisition. Since then the company has been very active with microLED development, with a first goal of replacing its wearable OLED displays with its own microLED displays.
Apple started developing microLED displays for wearable devices years ago, first aiming to launch the first product in 2023. The project was delayed several times, as the cost of production for microLED displays was too high for Apple, to the point where it was suggested Apple's goal is to launch the first microLED watch in 2027. One of Apple's key microLED partners, ams-Osram is is building a $850 Million 8-inch microLED epiwafer factory in Malaysia, and yesterday ams-Osram announced that its "cornerstone project" (it did not name Apple specifically) got unexpectedly cancelled.
Omdia updates its Apple laptop and tablet OLED adoption forecast, says market to grow to 72 million units by 2028
Omdia updated its forecast for Apple's OLED adoption in its IT devices (iPads and Notebooks), saying that the company will begin the OLED transition with the 11-inch and 12.9-inch iPad Pro due later in 2024.
Samsung Display and LG Display will be Apple's suppliers, and the two companies will adopt new technologies. SDC will produce rigid glass based LTPO tandem AMOLEDs and LG will produce flexible AMOLEDs, at its E6 line. Omdia estimates that Apple will pay $80-90 for the 11" displays and $120-130 for the 12.9" displays, without the touch and cover glass (which will add $20-30 per display).
