With the OLED iPad Pro expected to launch in early 2024, Apple could significantly boost the OLED panel market for mobile PCs by 2030. Research from Omdia’s display long-term demand forecast tracker indicates a bright future for this panel technology in mobile PCs, laptops, and TVs.
The overall demand for OLED panels could grow by 11% compound annual growth rate from 2022 to 2030, as brands are “gradually adopting OLED panels in their premium lineups across TVs and mobile phones and the wider consumer electronic range such as notebooks and tablets.”
According to Omdia, the OLED market share in the smartphone display market increased rapidly from 30% in 2020 to 42% in 2022, with its share expected to rise steadily in the future. OLED TV sales, which were relatively sluggish due to a sharp drop in LCD prices, are now expected to grow after 2024 as Samsung has entered the OLED TV market.
Ricky Park, Senior Principal Analyst in Omdia’s Display research practice, believes the 2024 OLED iPad Pro will play an important role in keeping this market heated: “From 2024, Apple will adopt OLED in iPad Pro models in earnest, and as a result, we anticipate demand for OLED panels for mobile PCs will increase rapidly. In an optimistic scenario where Apple actively adopts OLED and its rivals follow suit, mobile PC OLED panel demand on an area basis is forecasted to grow at a 34% CAGR.”
One reason Omdia is so optimistic about the OLED market is that Apple might switch OLED displays on the MacBook Pro by 2026 or 2027. The research firm notes that Samsung Display has “decided to build a dedicated production line, G8.6 fab, to achieve optimal OLED image quality against reasonable production costs,” which could be Apple’s main manufacturer for its computers in the near future.
Besides Samsung, LG and BOE also aim to produce the 8th gen of OLED for MacBooks and, eventually, iPad models, as Apple integrates this technology into more products.
