Apple stopped M2 chip production over low MacBook sales as Samsung preps the new OLED Air display

LG reportedly has its hands and pilot production conveyor belts full with OLED displays for the next Apple iPad Pro models, so the task of developing an OLED screen for the MacBook Air has been left entirely to Samsung. DSCC display analyst Ross Young confirmed that Apple will be launching a MacBook Air with OLED screen of a new 13.4-inches display size.

Such a screen diagonal sits right between the current 13.6-inch MacBook Air with M2 chip that Apple released in 2022, and the 13.3-inch Airs of yesteryear. Mr Young's forecast was just reiterated in Korean media with a few more details about the display's sole supplier. Samsung is apparently working on a 13.3-inch OLED screen, sources claim, but this diagonal might be just a rounding difference with the 13.4-inch report by DSCC.

The important part is that it is an OLED display that will be produced on Samsung's 6th generation equipment at the Asan factory. The 11-inch and 13-inch OLED screens for the iPad that LG has its hands full with for Apple, are reportedly also of the 6th-gen type.

Apple was apparently so low on MacBook orders in the first quarter, that it stopped producing the M2 chip altogether in January and February, reports another Korean source. According to Outsourced Semiconductor Assembly And Test (OSAT) companies which do silicon wafers for TSMC's 5nm process that the M2 is built on, they didn't get orders in that period.

Apple M2 Chip production was reportedly restarted last month, but with only 50% of last year's capacity. The demand contraction in the computing industry continues to be as dire as Tim Cook predicted during Apple's previous conference call with investors.

An OLED MacBook Air won't shake things up any time soon, too, as both sources didn't set a release date for it, while the rumor so far is that Apple will release it after the OLED iPad Pro in 2024.

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