Apple to Switch iPad Series to OLED Displays; Samsung's Involvement
TapTechNews May 24th news, it seems that Apple is planning to gradually switch all iPad series products to OLED displays, and the just-released M4 iPad Pro is the first trial product.
According to supply chain news on Naver, Samsung Display is accelerating the expansion of its IT OLED business and has recently begun to develop the corresponding OLED panel for the iPad mini, but the current development project is in the early stage, and the industry expects its mass production target date to be 2025.
As I understand it, Samsung Display began to develop an 8-inch OLED sample for the iPad mini at the request of Apple last month. After developing the initial sample in the first half of the year, we will be able to enter the mass production development stage within the year.
Industry insiders pointed out that this project is of great significance and is the bridgehead for Samsung Display to expand its IT OLED business. Allegedly, Samsung Display plans to mass-produce such panels at the Tianan A2 production line, and the next model to adopt this technology is expected to be iPad mini 7. TapTechNews inquired and learned that the A2 production line is currently mainly used to produce 5.5-generation rigid OLED panels.
However, the source of the news did not mention whether the iPad mini 7 will adopt an OLED display with a double-layer tandem structure, but in order to reduce costs, Apple is unlikely to introduce this technology to the iPad mini in the short term.
Insiders also mentioned that Samsung Display plans to supply 400-5000000 OLED panels to the 11-inch iPad Pro model this year. Although the price of IT OLED panels is 3-4 times more expensive than that of OLED panels for smartphones, the shipment volume of such products is also much lower than that in other industries.
An industry insider explained: As the direction of the OLED business shifts from the existing smartphones to IT, it seems that Samsung Display has also begun to pay attention to this field, even if the panel price drops slightly.