Apple is planning to bring OLED displays to the iPad Air and iPad Mini if a supply chain report is to be believed.
The Elec has reported Apple will be equipping the iPad Air and iPad , which likely be supplied by Samsung. Both new OLED models are expected to debut in the same year, with 2026 as the current expected release date.
“Samsung Display is likely to be selected as the main supplier of OLED for Apple’s iPad Air due to its production capacity. Apple plans to release an iPad Air with OLED as early as 2026,” read the machine-translated version of the report.
Apple seems to be sticking to a two-year cycle for launching new tablets, so The Elec’s timeline for the iPad Air and Mini appears accurate. For reference, the iPad Air M1 was announced in 2022, while the iPad Air M2 debuted just a couple of months ago in May 2024.
The iPad Pro was the first Apple tablet to get an OLED display. At the Let Loose event in May, the company announced the device with what it calls a “tandem OLED display.” As the name suggests, this tech uses two OLED panels together to combine the light from both. Apple labeled it “the world’s most advanced display.
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It’s unlikely that Apple will use the iPad Pro’s OLED panel on the iPad Air and Mini. That would likely drive up costs, so the company might opt for a stripped-down version of the display.
Another reason the company may not use the same OLEDs is differentiation. Apple likes to create distinctions between its Pro and non-Pro products.
For example, the iPad Pro has an M4 chip, while the iPad Air has an M2. The former also features an OLED display, as we discussed above, while the latter sticks to LCD.