So we’ve been recently seeing a bunch of rumors of Apple working on iPads with OLED
displays, and based on some of the comments I’ve been seeing, people are totally misunderstanding
the whole point of bringing OLED to the iPad, so before I get into what makes the most sense
for Apple to do, I want to go through some of these OLED iPad leaks.
Way back in November of last year, The Elec reported that Apple would release an OLED
iPad Pro in Late 2021, which seems way too soon after the Mini-LED model which just launched,
so that’s definitely not happening, and that’s why a display analyst named Ross
Young basically said Nope to that rumor.
And then a month later, Barclays claimed that an OLED iPad isn’t likely until 2022 at
the earliest, which makes much more sense.
And then finally, in March, we got our first report from DigiTimes which specifically mentioned
a 10.9” iPad being the first to get an OLED display in early 2022, which can only be the
iPad Air which recently got upgraded with a 10.9” display.
Going even deeper, Digitimes mentioned that both OLED and mini-LED will exist side-by-side,
each targeting different customer groups, which basically shows that OLED is NOT gonna
be replacing mini-LED like some people think it will!
And later that same month, Ming Chi Kuo basically confirmed what DigiTimes said, claiming that
the iPad Air will get an OLED display in 2022, while mini-LED will remain exclusive to the
iPad Pro models.
And the interesting piece of info he added was that using OLED wouldn’t cost more than
the current LCD display used in the iPad Pro.
But the important tidbit here is that from Apple’s perspective, Mini-LED will be exclusively
for the high-end iPad Pro, while OLED will be used on the lower-end iPad models, which
might not make sense to some people that believed OLED is superior to mini-LED, like in this
comment from a few months ago.
So before I explain the differences between the two, and why mini-LED is actually superior
in Apple’s eyes, let me finish off with the most recent leaks and rumors!
Back in May, ETNews reported that Apple will be using OLED displays in quote: “Some”
iPad models starting next year, which is interesting because it points to other iPads like the
iPad Mini and maybe even the budget iPad getting an OLED display.
And then the Elec recently came back and agreed with that report, claiming that Apple will
release an OLED iPad Air in 2022, and then release multiple OLED iPads in 2023.
And then finally, the most recent rumor that came just a couple of days ago from Display
Supply Chain Consultants is perhaps the most disappointing.
They claim that the OLED iPad Air actually isn’t coming until 2023, which is a pretty
bold claim considering everyone else says it’s coming in 2022, but if you think about
it, they’re actual display experts that follow that field very closely.
And on top of that, they claimed that Apple will be cancelling the Touch Bar on MacBook
Pros in the future, which makes sense because the Touch Bar is a OLED display that probably
isn’t showing up in the supply chain, and this claim perfectly matches up to rumors
from both Ming-chi kuo and Mark Gurman who said that the new MacBook Pros won’t come
with the Touch Bar.
So that basically gives them extra credibility with their prediction of an OLED iPad Air
only coming in 2023, but regardless of when we actually see it launch, let’s now get
into the controversial topic of why OLED would be going into a lower-end iPad instead of
the high-end iPad Pro.
First off, the fact is that Apple chose to put Mini-LED technology in their very highest-end
12.9” iPad Pro, showing that Apple obviously thinks mini-LED is better.
So I did a little digging and I found a comment on MacRumors forums claiming that Sony has
stopped making professional reference color-grading monitors using OLED technology.
That led me to AVSforums.com where somebody confirmed back in 2019 that Sony is shifting
from OLED display tech over to a stacked dual layer LCD design for professional displays,
which is similar to the tech that Apple uses in their Pro Display XDR and the Mini-LED
iPad Pro, and the very first of that kind was the Sony BVM-HX310 which apparently was
priced at 30,000 euros.
And in HDTVTest’s review of that display, he showed off that the contrast levels are
almost as good as a reference OLED display, while not having any blooming whatsoever.
He even said he can’t believe it’s not OLED.
But then, he showed off the brightness tests using this iconic scene from the Matrix, and
the new display absolutely destroyed the OLED display and basically any other OLED display
out there, because OLED is very limited in terms of brightness thanks to each pixel having
to emit its own light.
So if you’re curious about what this means for a tablet like the new Mini-LED iPad Pro,
we actually compared it to Samsung’s new Galaxy Tab S7+ which comes with a 120hz OLED
display and the results are shocking.
Look at this massive difference in brightness in this HDR video, with the iPad Pro obviously
on the left, compared to the OLED display on the right, which is weird because Samsung
advertises this display as supporting HDR10+, which means it needs to hit 1000 nits of brightness.
But the catch is that only a single pixel needs to hit 1000 nits to qualify, but in
terms of full screen brightness, it can only hit 484 nits peak brightness compared to 1000
nits sustained full screen brightness on the mini-LED ipad pro.
So just from watching this comparison, it’s pretty obvious why Apple went with Mini-LED
instead for the professionals who want to actually edit HDR video.
But that’s not the only reason, because OLED displays have a bunch of other issues
as well.
Check out all of these reddit posts with users complaining about display issues, like having
weird tint, screen uniformity issues and flickering at low brightness.
On top of that, OLED displays are known to give some users headaches because of the PWM
tech required to make them work, which is something that Mini-LED displays don’t suffer
from at all.
Going even further, OLED displays can suffer from burn-in like you can see on the Apple
Watch, as well as this iPhone from an Apple store which has been left too long on the
same home screen page.
Once again, no issues with the Mini-LED display, so if Apple wants these iPad Pros to be used
for long professional editing sessions, Mini-LED just made the most sense since it has the
least amount of drawbacks compared to OLED.
So now, with all of that said and established, why would Apple be giving the iPad Air an
OLED display instead of just going straight for Mini-LED?
Well, because Apple obviously wants to keep that high-end display exclusive to the iPad
Pro to get people to spend more money, like for example, next year’s 11” iPad Pro
is rumored to finally be getting the Mini-LED display as well!
But as far as the iPad Air, the reason it’s getting OLED is because it desperately needs
a boost because Apple recently raised the price to $600, making it a bit of a worse
value, especially since the M1 iPad Pro was released, packing in a ton of extra features
compared to the Air.
So in our recent buyer’s guide video, we literally told people not to buy the Air,
no matter what. Either spend $200 more on the M1 iPad Pro, or go for a less expensive
model like the budget iPad which is only $300 right now on amazon.
Better yet, buy a refurbished 2018 iPad Pro with 256GB of storage for only $590, because
that old model is STILL WAY better than the brand new iPad Air 4 which lacks various features
like HDR video support, quad-speakers, 120hz refresh rate and Face ID.
So the iPad Air desperately needs something to make it special again, and THAT is why
the iPad Air is getting OLED, along with reports that it won’t really cost Apple any more
money because it’s gonna use a rigid OLED design and it’s gonna be sticking to 60hz
refresh rate, which means it won’t be suffering from many of those 120hz OLED display issues
that are plaguing the Galaxy Tab S7+.
But the ultimate end-goal is microLED which Apple has been working on for years, so if
you want to see a deep dive into how and when Apple is gonna utilize microLED in their products,
click that circle above to subscribe for more videos like this one! Definitely check out
one of those two videos right there. Thanks for watching and we’ll see you in the next
one!