iPads With OLED Screens Rumored To Be Coming Next Year

In April, Apple finally proved true all the rumors about its latest iPad Pro generation. It has finally switched to Mini LED technology in order to improve the display quality on its professional tablets. Some apparently aren't that convinced with the upgrade but the company might not be stopping there. Rumors now claim that Apple will also be switching its non-Pro iPads away from LCD screens and that OLED transition is going to happen as early as 2022.

For years, Apple has kept its entire iPad fleet on LCD screens even as its iPhones and Apple Watches used OLEDs. Now that it is finally ditching plain LCD (Mini LED still uses LCDs), one might wonder why it doesn't just stick to either OLED only or Mini LED only for all iPads. The reason might be both technical and economical.

OLED was at some point the darling of display technologies because of how it offered better contrast and deeper blacks. Unfortunately, it is also more susceptible to burn-in and Apple probably didn't think it wise to use that kind of display on iPad Pros that would probably always be showing the same app or content for hours.

Mini LED, on the other hand, delivers almost the same benefits as OLED but at higher costs and lower production yields. This would make it less ideal for the likes of the iPad Air and entry-level iPads due to the price factors. These smaller and cheaper tablets would do fine with OLED panels especially since their use is more irregular than iPad Pros.

ETnews believes that Samsung and LG will supply the OLED displays for next year's iPads just as they do for the OLED iPhones. This, in turn, could also cause a surge in small and medium-sized OLED production which has seen a lull in the past years due to lack of interest in such devices.