Rumor: Apple MacBook Air with OLED display postponed in favor of model with better LCD

According to a report by Omdia Research in February 2024, the MacBook Air was due to receive an upgrade to an OLED panel in 2027, one year after the MacBook Pro. Further information recently obtained by the The Elec from its sources, however, suggests that these plans have now been postponed: the MacBook Air with OLED is now scheduled for a launch in 2029.

The reason is said to be the sluggish sales of the iPad Pro with the OLED display. Instead of the 10 million units anticipated by Apple, the company only sold 6 million iPad Pro units last year, which is likely due to the expensive tandem OLED panel and the resulting higher price tag. In order to bridge the four years to the MacBook Air, Apple is reportedly planning an upgrade to a more advanced LCD in 2027. Specifically, an oxide LTPS panel is expected to be installed instead of the a-Si TFT of the current MacBook Air. 

Such panels are somewhat more expensive, but generally have advantages in terms of response time, color fidelity and power consumption. In our extensive review, the current MacBook Air achieves a decent 98.4% coverage of the DCI-P3 color space and a contrast ratio of 1250:1, but the response time of 34.5 ms is average at best. Even in 2029, when the MacBook Air is expected to have an OLED panel, analysts assume that Apple will install an "old-fashioned" 60 Hz panel without a tandem build in order to reduce costs.