Samsung has been supplying OLED screens for iPhones and Apple Watches for a few years now. And for the first-ever iPads with OLED screens, Samsung will again be the display panel supplier. However, reports indicate that the orders will reportedly be split between Samsung Display and LG Display.
Samsung will share OLED iPad Pro display panel orders with LG
According to a new report from Hankooki, Samsung Display will supply 11-inch OLED panels for next-generation 11-inch iPad Pros, while LG Display will supply OLED panels for the next-generation 13-inch iPad Pro. However, there is a possibility that Samsung Display will supply OLED panels for even 13-inch iPad Pros by the end of this year. Samsung Display will reportedly ship 4 million OLED panels, while LG Display will ship 4.5 million OLED panels for upcoming iPad Pros.
Usual OLED panels for typical smartphones cost anywhere from $50 to $60, while OLED panels for the 11-inch iPad Pro could be priced around $280 to $290. The pricing of the OLED panel for a 13-inch iPad Pro could be $380-$390. This is because of the larger screen size and the tandem OLED panel technology that Apple has opted for. This new technology, which uses two layers of OLED stacked on top of each other, will greatly improve the brightness and reliability of OLED panels. The tandem structure OLED panel from LG Display reportedly improves the lifetime of the panel by 4x, while the efficiency improves by 1.5x-2x compared to OLED with a single-layer structure.
Due to this price increase, the pricing of the iPad Pro is also expected to be higher. Some reports claim that the newer-generation 11-inch iPad Pros will be priced $100-$150 higher than current-generation iPad Pro models. The 13-inch iPad Pro that is expected to be launched this year could be $150-$200 pricier than 13-inch iPad Pros with Mini-LED screens.
