Apple is paying Samsung and LG $2.9 billion for the OLED panels to be used on the iPad Pro (2024)،
A new report from
Korean Economic Daily reports that Apple has ordered 8.5 million OLED panels from its suppliers for the new premium iPad Pro (2024) tablets due to be revealed this month. Yes, the new high-end 11-inch and 12.9-inch (or 13-inch according to some) tablets will be the first iPads to have an OLED screen. Compared to LCD displays, OLED displays offer more accurate
colors, deeper blacks, higher contrast ratios and lower power consumption. They're more expensive, so we might experience some sort of sticker shock when the new iPad
Pro models are introduced.
Other reports indicate that the 8.5 million OLED panels ordered by Apple should be enough to keep iPad Pro assembly lines running until the end of this year. In January, we told you that Apple initially ordered 10 million OLED panels for the iPad Pro (2024)
series, but reduced it by two million panels.
The last iPad Pro series, from 2022, used LCD panels
The new report updates this information by claiming that Apple has decided on a final amount of 8.5 million OLED panels for the iPad Pro (2024), which will be split between Samsung Display and LG Display. Samsung Display will produce 4 million OLED panels for the 11-inch iPad Pro, while LG Display will manufacture 4.5 million OLED panels for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Apple would spend $290 for each 11-inch display made by Samsung Display and $390 for the 12.9-inch display produced by LG Display. In total, the tech giant is spending $2.9 billion on OLED panels. China's BOE, which supplies Apple with OLED panels for some
iPhone models, is reportedly vying for part of this business, but will not supply Apple with any of the OLED panels for the new iPad Pro models (2024).
In addition to the new iPad Pro (2024) series, Apple is expected to introduce the iPad Air (2024) around the same time this month. For the first time, there will be two models of the iPad Air, a variant with a 12.9-inch LCD screen will join the traditional unit equipped with a 10.9-inch LCD screen.
