Toni Hobrecht
According to previous rumors, Apple will not be introducing any new iPad Pro tablets this year. Instead, the updated devices are slated to launch in early 2024. The biggest change will be the move from LCD to OLED displays. And according to Korean sources, orders for the panels go to Samsung and LG.
Actually, the Chinese display manufacturer BOE was also traded as a hot candidate for the orders. At least for the first round, BOE seems to be out of the game. The Apple iPad Pro series sold more than 70 million units in the past fiscal year. Between October and December 2022, the company reported revenue of $9.4 billion, a massive 28% year-on-year increase.
Some reports suggest that the new iPad Pro tablets will have slightly larger panels. However, this does not automatically mean that the overall sizes of the devices will also change. The smaller variant will grow from 11 inches to 11.1 inches, while the previous 12.9 inch version will be replaced by a 13.1 inch display.
According to Kang Min-su, analyst at Omdia, Korean manufacturers like Samsung and LG are still undisputed leaders in the OLED market due to their foldable displays. And fittingly, rumors are slowly mounting that Apple is planning an iPad Fold for next year. On the other hand, this is a new development – in the previous LCD business, a large part of the orders went to China.
Samsung and LG technically “four to six years ahead”
In the past, Samsung and LG have dominated the OLED display segment with a market share of 100%. However, this share has now fallen to a good 80% and the rest mainly goes to China. Technically, however, Korean manufacturers are still “four to six years ahead” of Chinese companies. And the Korean government is currently pushing digital commercialization strongly, so the demand for OLED panels will continue to rise until at least 2027.
