Apple has enough iPad Pro OLED screens ordered to make it through Christmas
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.
The 12.9-inch 2022 iPad Pro
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.
Rumor Score: Likely
Read on AppleInsider
Comments
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.
If Apple has lots of money laying around maybe some of it should be directed to iPadOS.
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.
I would like the PPI to go to 325 ppi like iPhones, but this is very unlikely.
Money or lack of resources isn't the problem with iPadOS. It's market segmentation and Apple's desire to design the OS and platform to have certain features. As the prices go up, they have to enable more functionality, and Apple's done that Stage Manager and FCP/LP, but there isn't a race to get the platform to be more capable than competitors of PCs, including Macs. They are choosing not to enable infinite backgrounding, adding Terminal.app, refining the virtual keyboard, adding VM capability, sideloading, Phone.app, Xcode.app, etc, because they view the iPad as a tweener device between an iPhone and a Mac, and designed it as such.
Joswiak, Federighi, Ternus have to change their minds on what iPads are for. I've been saying that they should all their platforms compute to the fullest.
You can't draw on an Macbook Air. It sucks to use a laptop in bed. An iPad Pro 13" is about half the weight as a MBA13 and half the thickness. Thusly, it is just easier to carry around and use in many places.
Nobody is confused as to why they buy an iPad Pro over a Macbook Air or vice versa, even when they will pay more for an iPad Pro over a Macbook Air.