Apple is expected to skip the announcement of new iPad Pro devices this year and will bring them in early 2024. The biggest change will be a switch from LCD to OLED, and according to Korean sources, Cupertino will place the orders for the panels with Samsung and LG.
The deal between Apple and display maker BOE is still under negotiation, effectively putting the Chinese manufacturer out of the game, at least for the first push.
Apple’s flagship tablet product sold more than 70 million units during the previous fiscal year. Between October and December 2022, the company saw $9.4 billion in sales, a massive 28% year-over-year increase.
Reports suggest that the new iPad Pro tablets will have slightly larger panels, but we don’t yet know if the overall size of the device will change. The smaller variant will increase from 11” to 11.1”, while the 12.9” version will be replaced by a 13.1” screen.
Kang Min-su, an analyst at Omdia, recently spoke at the Korea Chamber of Commerce. They said Korean manufacturers such as Samsung and LG are still the undisputed leaders of the OLED market because of the foldable devices. However, they should remember the precedent of the LCD business, where China got a large part of the sales.
Looking at the OLED display segment, Samsung and LG combined had 100% of the market previously, while now they are at the top with over 80% market share, the rest mainly going to China. Korean manufacturers are still “four to six years ahead” of Chinese companies, and the local government is pushing for a digital commercialization in 2027 that will increase demand for OLED even more, thus protecting other companies at the expense of their competitors across the Yellow Sea.
