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MagyarMacBook sales slump forcing Apple to reconsider the OLED display upgrade
Apple will pass on MacBooks with OLED display for now, and has delayed those plans for way into 2027, reports Korean media while analyzing how this change of heart will affect the local supply chain. Samsung's 8th-gen OLED panel production equipment purchases have seemingly been put on hold as well, since Apple was expected to be one of the big customers for the larger, more efficient to cut OLED sheets.
An OLED iPad Pro is apparently still a go for next year, but those will use the current 6th-gen OLED screen technology by Samsung and LG, rather than wait for the 8th-gen investments to pan out. Faced with a nearly 50% drop in MacBook shipments in the past couple of quarters, however, Apple decided to put the kibosh on the development of one with an OLED display for now.
It may be worried that even the new display technology won't revive the MacBook sales as brand loyalty seems increasingly scarce in the laptop realm unlike the iPhone's unrelenting success story. Initially, Apple planned to introduce the first OLED iPad Pro in 2024, followed by an OLED MacBook in 2025 or 2026. It wants to use dual-stack OLED panels of the type that LG developed and is now supplying to Mercedes for its infotainment systems.
The dual-stack OLED screens are brighter and have a much longer life cycle, making them suitable for applications that require increased lifespan like cars or laptops that people keep for many years. Apple was also unimpressed by the "wrinkling" that Samsung's flexible OLED panels for larger devices introduced and forced it to look into a hybrid solution.
Now, however, Apple is postponing the eventual launch of its first OLED MacBooks for 2027, and Samsung has paused its plans for 8th-gen production line equipment. Apparently, the Canon Talkie evaporator orders that were supposed to be fulfilled this quarter at the latest, have now slipped to the phrase "equipment will only be ordered within the year," report insiders, reflecting Apple's change of heart about the OLED MacBook launch.
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