Apple iMac to get tandem OLED display

Rumors have been circulating for months according to which Apple is to switch numerous product ranges to OLED displays over the next few years, from the MacBook Air to the iPad Air and the iMac ($1,206 on Amazon). According to ZDNet Korea the development of the OLED panel for the next-generation Apple iMac is making great strides.

While Samsung Display has so far only been able to produce OLED panels in monitor format with a maximum pixel density of 160 PPI, the company is now said to have started test production of a panel with 220 pixels per inch. This would give the panel a similar resolution to the display of the current Apple iMac, as the 24.5-inch IPS panel achieves a resolution of 4,480 x 2,520 pixels with a pixel density of 218 PPI. It is said to be a modern Penta Tandem OLED panel which is said to achieve a peak HDR brightness of up to 1,300 nits. According to Samsung Display, penta tandem panels achieve 30 percent higher brightness and last twice as long as older QD OLED panels.

It is not yet clear whether Apple will opt for this panel, as LG Display is also said to be developing a tandem OLED panel for the next-generation iMac, which, just like the panel from Samsung Display, consists of five layers to achieve particularly high brightness. Apple is said to require a full-screen SDR brightness of at least 600 nits - a challenge for current OLED panels, as the penta-tandem panel in the Asus ROG Swift OLED PG32UCDM Gen 3, for example, only achieves 300 nits over its entire display area.