Malcolm Owen
Apple's reported development of an oxide LCD panel for the MacBook Air is another sign that the OLED MacBook Air is still a long way from becoming a reality.
Apple often updates the display technologies in its hardware, improving them in various ways as time rolls on. While OLED is considered to be what Apple is migrating towards across its product lines, it seems that the MacBook Air has a bit more of a wait ahead of it.
According to sources of TheElec on Monday, Apple is starting the development of displays for the MacBook Air that uses oxide thin-film-transistor (TFT) technology.
The 14-inch MacBook Air and 16-inch MacBook Pro have used an oxide TFT LCD since 2022, while the MacBook Air models have stuck to standard TFT LCD panels.
The chief difference between TFT and oxide TFT production is in its semiconductor material, with TFT using amorphous silicon. Oxide TFTs use an oxide with the properties of a semiconductor, such as Indium-Gallium-Zinc Oxide.
The difference in material offers many benefits including being able to shift electrons at a far faster rate using oxide TFTs. This can result in thinner display panels, higher response times, higher resolutions, and power savings among other benefits.
For the MacBook Air, this could result in many traits crossing over from the Pro models. This can include things like a higher resolution, HDR support, and possibly even ProMotion support.
It is currently expected that LG Display will be the supplier of the oxide LCDs to the MacBook Air. It is already a supplier of similar panels for the MacBook Pro line, alongside Sharp.
Later OLED
The upshot in developing an oxide LCD for the MacBook Air is that it occurs at the expense of implementing technologies, or because of delays in development. In this instance, it seems to be the latter.
According to the report sources, Apple is probably updating the display on the MacBook Air models as part of a pushback on OLED. There was an apparent plan to launch an OLED MacBook Air by 2027, but sources say it was delayed.
Since OLED will take longer to arrive on the model, another display upgrade was required, and oxide TFT fitted the bill.
As for why the delay occurred, it is said that apparent lower sales of OLED iPad Pro models has caused concern.
These details mirror an earlier report from the publication, insisting that an OLED MacBook Air wouldn't arrive until 2028 at the earliest. OLED production costs and an apparent failure in iPad Pro versus expectations were cited as causes of a delay in November 2024.
This latter point was also raised by analysts Display Supply Chain Consultants, who observed a steep reduction in 11-inch and 13-inch OLED panel shipments to Apple in October. It was thought that consumers weren't inspired by the OLED display, versus the previously used oxide TFT with miniLED backlighting.
A display technology product roadmap from December indicated that a hybrid OLED was on the way for the MacBook Air in 2028. However, the same document also proposed that the use of an oxide TFT was also possible at that time.
The same schedule also lists the MacBook Pro as shifting over to a Hybrid OLED at a far earlier time in 2026. This also ties up with reports into MacBook Pro OLED changes at around the same time.
This two-year difference in the models opens up the possibility of Apple upgrading the displays in both models at around the same time, bumping MacBook Air to oxide TFT as the Pro models shift to OLED. Doing so would mean Apple reuses display tech elements from the Pro models in the Air, while also maintaining the display quality difference between the models.
The prospect of an OLED display in the MacBook Air has been discussed for years. In early 2023, it was thought that Apple was working on a two-year development project to implement OLED in the MacBook Air, using a possible tandem stack technique as seen in the iPad Pro.
DSCC's Ross Young also raised the idea even earlier, back in June 2022. In an X post, he mentioned a 13.3-inch OLED screen notebook that was expected to be a MacBook Air, with an ambitious but incorrect expectation of release in 2024.
It's entirely plausible that the roadmap from analysts could've been wrong, and that oxide TFT could be implemented in an earlier release. However, there have yet to be any other murmurs about other MacBook Air display tech changes aside from the potential OLED shift.
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5 Comments
As for why the delay occurred, it is said that apparent lower sales of OLED iPad Pro
A great example of how new BS gets piled on top of old BS in the rumor mill. Just to recap: there is nothing Apple has said since the release of the new Pro iPads and nothing in the numbers reported thus far to indicate slow Pro sales. If anything, Apple has indicated that they are selling well. I'm also not seeing any unusual discounts on the Pro models that would indicate an attempt to move slow-moving product. But we'll see how holiday sales were for Apple in less than 2 weeks.
For me, the big question looming over the OLED Pro models is how potential buyers are responding to the massive price increase over the M2 Pros: 25% on the base model 11" and 19% on the 13" model, and these were already Apple's most expensive iPads. I think the new Pros are incredible, but YIKES. That's a horse pill of a price increase for customers to swallow. And yes, if Apple were thinking about jacking prices similarly on the Macbook Air for OLED, that would be insane, and they damned well better be VERY concerned that this kind of increase would slow sales.
The other competition for the Pro iPads now is the Air offering the same two form factors. Obviously, there are major differences despite the similar form factors, but the base 11" Pro now costs 66% more than the base 11" Air. That's a lot to think about if you're not a cost-no-object shopper or someone who earns a living on an iPad Pro. By comparison, the price difference between a base Macbook Air 13" and base Macbook Pro 14" is 45%.
And the bigger pill to swallow is having to also purchase a new Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil with the latest iPad Pro’s. As much as I’d like to upgrade, I just don’t want to spend that much.
The MBA should always be built around being a good value for money school computer. It does extremely well at BYOD schools.
ditto people that want a personal mobile Mac but do not need a lot of horsepower or features.