William Gallagher
A new industry report claims that Apple will announce two new iPad Pro models before the end of March, and suppliers are readying 8.5 million OLED panels to keep the supply lines full through the end of the year.
Previous reports have claimed that production began on the new iPad Pro in February. The new report from Digitimes, though, backs up other sources saying that Apple has cut back on its orders for the device.
In January 2024, it was reported that Apple had initially ordered 10 million OLED panels for the whole of 2024, but had cut that order by up to 2 million. It was said that Samsung would retain an order for 4 million, but Apple would cut its order with LG Display from 6 million to either 4 million or 5 million.
Now Digitimes claims that the overall order from Apple is for 8.5 million OLED display panels. It says that the entire order is split between Samsung and LG Display.
LG is said to be producing the panel for the new 12.9-inch iPad Pro, and across the whole of 2024 will make 4.5 million screens. Samsung is working on the 11-inch iPad Pro, and is expected to produce 4 million displays in 2024.
Digitimes says that Apple is believed to be spending $2.9 billion on the OLED displays. That's based on a reported component cost of $290 for the 11-inch screen, and $390 for the 12.9-inch edition.
To service the order, Samsung has reportedly decided to build a new 8.6-generation OLED production line. LG Display is said to be adjusting its investment schedule for an 8.6-generation production facility.
Digitimes does specifically say that these OLED panels are for the iPad Pro. In October 2023, it also said that Apple would produce a 12.9-inch version of the iPad Air.
Overall, Digitimes has a good track record for information from within Apple's supply chain. It has a notably less accurate one extrapolating what Apple will do, however.
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Christine McKee
Wesley Hilliard
Malcolm Owen
Andrew Orr
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7 Comments
Money in hand, please make it next week as I have to give back my work IPP before quitting.
I think the price for the fully configured M3 11" iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard will be way over $2500 with Apple Care and sales tax. The current M2 11" prices out to $2,228.00 with everything.
In other words, probably more expensive than the 13" M3 MBAir with 24GB and 2TB SSD.
So one must choose between the screen type and the operating system.
Think I will just keep my M2 11" iPad 2TB with Magic Keyboard for several more years.
What’s the value proposition for putting an OLED screen on an iPad? Does it help with outdoor viewing, battery runtime, clarity, or something like that? Every iPad Apple currently sells has a gorgeous display with the 12.9 iPad Pro being the best of the best. On the very short list of what I would change in the iPad or iPad Pro, the screen isn’t even in question.
If Apple has lots of money laying around maybe some of it should be directed to iPadOS.
They can build all the OLED displays they want. With the confirmed price-hike on these iPads, consumers won't be happy. iPadOS does not fully support the M CPU, so it is wasted in an iPad. The base model iPad can run all the same apps as an iPad Pro. When the price of the iPad exceeds the price of MacBooks, then you have a problem, especially when the MacBook is a much more capable machine with macOS and pro-level apps.
For $1,399, you can get the M2 12.9 iPad Pro with 512GB, but no keyboard. For the same price, you can get the 13" M2 MacBook Air with 16/512. You would have to be a fool to choose the iPad over the MacBook Air. And the new iPad Pro is supposed to have a big price hike, but still limited with iPadOS, while the price of the M2 MacBook Air will remain the same.