A new report from Korea Economic Daily says that Apple has ordered 8.5 million OLED panels from its suppliers for the new iPad Pro (2024) premium tablets due to be unveiled sometime this month. Yes, the new top-of-the-line 11-inch and 12.9-inch (or 13-inch some say) tablets will be the first iPads to feature an OLED display. Compared to LCD screens, OLED displays deliver more accurate colors, deeper blacks, higher contrast ratios, and lower power consumption. They are more expensive so we could be in for some kind of sticker shock when the new iPad Pro models are introduced.
Other reports say that the 8.5 million OLED panels ordered by Apple should be enough to keep the iPad Pro assembly lines humming through the end of this year. In January, we told you that Apple had originally ordered 10 million OLED panels for the iPad Pro (2024) series but had reduced it by as many as two million panels.
The last iPad Pro series, from 2022, used LCD panels
The new report updates this information claiming that Apple has decided on a final amount of 8.5 million OLED panels for the iPad Pro (2024), which will be divided between Samsung Display and LG Display. Samsung Display will produce 4 million OLED panels for the 11-inch iPad Pro while LG Display will make 4.5 million OLED panels for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.
Apple is reportedly spending $290 for each 11-inch display made by Samsung Display and $390 for the 12.9-inch screen produced by LG Display. Overall, the tech giant is spending $2.9 billion for OLED panels. China’s BOE, which does supply Apple with OLED panels for some iPhone models, was believed to be in the running for some of this business but will not be supplying Apple with any of the OLED panels for the new iPad Pro (2024) models.
In addition to the new iPad Pro (2024) series, Apple is expected to introduce the iPad Air (2024) at the same time this month. For the first time, there will be two iPad Air models as a variant sporting a 12,9-inch LCD display will join the traditional unit that is equipped with a 10.9-inch LCD screen.