OLED MacBook Pro release date tipped by Samsung as it stays mum on Apple's foldable iPhone launch

The CEO of Samsung Display has now confirmed the release window of the first Apple MacBook Pro laptops with OLED screen panels.

Plural, as Samsung is reportedly gearing to produce both 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro OLED screen panels, reportedly with an integrated touchscreen layer and an upgraded M6 processing power, too.

According to Samsung's Lee Cheong speaking to reporters at a display conference in Seoul, it will start mass panel production on its new 8.6th-gen OLED line in the third quarter of 2026, tangentially confirming the rumored Q4 launch of the first MacBook Pro with OLED screens.

Samsung will start production batches of the MacBook Pro OLED panels as soon as the second quarter, though, but on its A6 production line that was retooled to make OLED screens instead of LCDs. The 8.6G line, with its 2290 x 2620 mm glass substrates, is considered the most suitable for cutting the OLED screens of midsize electronics devices, such as laptops, though. Ramping up its production from the third quarter of 2026 means that Samsung, Apple's exclusive provider of MacBook Pro OLED displays, will be gearing up for a release date some time in the holiday quarter.

"We are eagerly anticipating" Apple's orders, tipped Lee Cheong, but declined to specify if that's when Apple will release the foldable iPhone whose bendy panel will be tasked to Samsung as well. According to industry analysts, Apple forecasts about half a million OLED MacBook Pro shipments by the end of 2026, with total orders expected to be up to three million units, depending on the cost structure of Samsung's 14-inch and 16-inch OLED panels.

Currently, a MacBook Pro with an M4 processor goes for $1,399 with Amazon's discount, but the rumored upgrade to the M5 chip is unlikely to keep that low Pro price, let alone a version with an OLED panel. Apple is scheduling a Pro model refresh with M5 processors for either next quarter, or early in 2026, so the first MacBooks with OLED screen may still arrive exactly a year after the 2025 crop.