Anybody following Apple provide chain stories is aware of that the corporate has been working toward adopting OLED displays on the iPad Professional for fairly a while. Although the iPhone has featured an OLED show because the 2017 iPhone X, bringing the expertise to the iPad lineup has confirmed troublesome.
Delays appear to lastly be reaching their finish, nonetheless, as this new display technology ought to see its debut on the Could 7 Apple occasion. A brand new report particulars how precisely the 2024 iPad Professional has produced recent challenges for suppliers, and one other highlights OLED provider modifications coming to the iPhone 16.
Distinctive challenges within the iPad Professional’s OLED course of
The brand new iPad’s OLED panels are mentioned to make use of a hybrid substrate that mixes glass substrate and polyimide (PI) supplies. This hybrid OLED combines some great benefits of versatile OLED plastic substrates and inflexible OLED glass substrates whereas overcoming the downsides of each.
A key part of manufacturing these substrates is the etching course of, whereby extra glass is slimmed all the way down to make the tip product as skinny and lightweight as attainable, one thing the brand new iPad Professional’s OLED shows have been reported to deliver.
Secondly, Apple is adopting the 2-stack tandem expertise for the primary time. Merely put, a 2-stack tandem means stacking two OLED layers, characterised by a excessive refractive index cost era layer (CGL) within the center to attach two natural light- emitting layers.
This report makes clear that bringing OLED to the iPad has been a much more concerned course of than one would possibly anticipate. Regardless of Apple suppliers mastering the OLED course of on the iPhone, the iPad Professional is a singular beast that has created new issues and required recent options.
iPhone 16 to make use of a brand new OLED show driver provider
A second Digitimes report associated to OLED shows focuses on the addition of Novatek to the iPhone 16 provider roster.
Novatek has not but formally been added to Apple’s provider listing. The report, nonetheless, highlights a pointy improve in Novatek’s orders of OLED Show Driver ICs (DDI) from Apple, indicating the iPhone 16 will contain Novatek in its provider lineup.
It isn’t uncommon for suppliers for use for a product earlier than being formally added to Apple’s provider listing, as there’s typically a lag between an organization’s inside order reporting and Apple’s public-facing listing updates.
Novatek has been on and off Apple’s provider listing prior to now, making this transfer not a lot of a shock. It does communicate, nonetheless, to Apple’s fixed efforts to evaluate the availability course of for every particular person product.
Whether or not it’s a brand new iPad Professional that includes an modern OLED course of or easy refinements to the iPhone which has had OLED shows for years, it’s turn into frequent observe for Apple to alter issues up, including and changing suppliers as wanted.
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