Apple and Samsung are friendly companies, at least as far as the Korean components section is concerned. Since the iPhone X of 2017, Samsung Display has been one of the most important providers of OLED screens for Californians, joining a list that includes others such as BOE or LG Display.
From Asia now comes new information that points to future iPad and Mac with OLED screens , with Samsung Display as the protagonist. According to The Elec, the South Koreans would be chosen to manufacture an important part of these panels, always meeting the requirements established by Apple in terms of quality.
Fierce fight between Apple suppliers
If we look back, just a few months ago, we can remember that Apple and Samsung had already reached an agreement whereby the apple company would be able to have OLED panels for iPad by Koreans. However, from Samsung Display they rejected the agreement when they concluded that it was not profitable for them.
Months later we have been obtaining new information regarding who will be the supplier of these screens and BOE seemed to be the best placed. In fact, they had already adapted one of their factories to have the capacity to create thousands of OLED panels up to 15 inches in size.
We do not know if this new agreement between Apple and Samsung leaves BOE aside, but everything indicates that the supplies of one and the other will be combined. In fact, Apple is used to having several suppliers for its iPhone screens, complying in all cases with the same parameters and without the end user being able to distinguish who the manufacturer is.
An OLED iPad, already for this year?
What ultimately matters most to the user is when they will be able to enjoy devices with this type of screen, which has already been shown to be more efficient and of higher quality than the IPS-LCD panels currently mounted on iPads and Macs.
At the moment, apart from the iPhone, only the MacBook Pro 2021 and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro M1 mount miniLED panels, but it is expected that it will be extended little by little. Not perhaps with panels of such high quality, but leaving IPS behind. In these first months of the year it has been widely rumored that the iPad Air will bring this screen technology, but at this point it does not seem feasible.
And we say the latter because, except for surprise, the iPad Air 2022 will be presented next Tuesday and based on the information obtained, it would not have been enough time for BOE or Samsung Display to have the orders ready. So 2023 seems more feasible.
What is expected is that the 11-inch iPad Pro will end up incorporating a miniLED panel as the large model did last year.
More doubts are generated by the MacBook Air M2. This remains unknown and, although it would not be surprising if it became official on Tuesday, the most recent reports place it at the end of the year. If this is true, it could be more than enough time for Apple to implement an OLED panel. If it were launched this coming week, it is more than likely that it will bring a panel similar to the one already mounted on the current model, where OLED technology has no place.
