Apple MacBook Pro with OLED screens unlikely to launch before 2026

If you have been waiting for Apple to put OLED screens on its top-end MacBook Pro models to buy them, you are in for a slight disappointment. A new report has pointed out that Apple may be holding off on its plan to put OLED screens on its top-end MacBook Pro for a few more years. OLED screens offer the best viewing experience, thanks to inky blacks, rich contrast, and enhanced brightness levels. So it makes sense for Apple to use OLED screens on MacBook Pros but it already has a substitute that is cheaper. The current MacBook Pro models use mini-LED screens that offer a similar viewing experience, but hardcore fans want more.

According to Ross Young, chief executive officer of Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) — who spoke at the recently held Bloomberg Intelligence webinar on display technologies (via MacRumors) — Apple is unlikely to introduce MacBook Pro models with OLED displays “until 2026 or 2027.” That is contradictory to an earlier report that suggested the first MacBook Pro model with an OLED display will be out sometime next year. Young said Apple’s manufacturing partners have not yet finished building facilities to produce “laptop-sized OLED panels.” Until that happens, MacBook Pro models with OLED screens are not happening.

Apple was earlier reported to be working on a MacBook Pro model with an OLED screen, slated for release in 2024. That model would use “tandem stack” OLED technology, which would increase the lifespan of OLED panels while ensuring high brightness levels and optimum power consumption.

There may also be a MacBook Air model with an OLED display, but there is not a lot of information about it. Other than MacBook Pro and Air models, Apple is also reportedly planning to introduce iPad Pro with OLED displays. Young reiterated that the first model with an OLED panel is coming in 2024. It is also likely that Apple will bring OLED displays to iPad Air and iPad mini models, but that is not happening before 2026, per Young. That means the next year’s iPad Air and iPad mini models will stick to LCD screens.