The first iPad with OLED screen has yet to be announced, it has been talked about for a very long time and the latest rumors have hypothesized 2024 as the right year for the debut. According to The ElecApple would intend to adopt a OLED panel hybridthat is, made with a rigid glass substrate and a thin, flexible plastic substrate.
Apple’s goal is to prevent creases from forming, a problem of all flexible OLED panels but that on a 6 or 7 inch display such as those of a smartphone turns out to be decidedly less evident. On the other hand, it is much more conspicuous when the diagonal grows beyond the 10 inches typical of a tablet or PC. Lcrease is the possible consequence of the process of making the flexible OLED panel: a paint in liquid form is applied to the glass substrate, then the glass is removed with a laser to create the plastic layer, and during this phase some parts of the substrate can be deformed by heat.
To date, Apple only uses panels for iPhones Flexible OLEDs: if the implementation of the hybrid panel made of glass and plastic substrates should present design difficulties, then the Cupertino company could opt for the adoption of the flexible panel. Samsung Display and LG Display have already been working for some time to try to meet Apple’s requests for next generation devices: the challenge is (also) in glass thicknesswith the new substrates they should measure 2mm, that is 3mm less than the solutions currently on the market. This would facilitate greater flexibility.
So Apple seems to be intent on adopting ultra-thin glass and plastic hybrid OLED panels for its next iPads: in this way. the risk of crumpling would be avoided, and in addition the smaller thickness of the panel would allow to obtain a saving in production costs. The technology is still far from being fine-tuned. Will everything be ready for 2024?
