by Tim Hardwick
Apple will bring OLED displays to its iPad Air models next year, according to a new report from Korea's ET News.
Citing industry sources, the outlet says Samsung Display will begin mass production of OLED panels around the end of 2026 or January next year, with a view to supplying panels for Apple's next iPad Air, expected to be released in early 2027. Apple last updated the iPad Air in March 2026 with an M4 chip.
Apple's iPad Pro models already have OLED displays, but the iPad Air models still use more affordable LCD displays that Apple calls Liquid Retina. The Liquid Retina displays do not support 120Hz ProMotion display technology, and are limited to 60Hz refresh rates.
OLED panels individually control each pixel, resulting in more precise color reproduction and deeper blacks compared to LCD. They also provide superior contrast, faster response times, better viewing angles, and greater design flexibility.
That said, unlike Apple's iPad Pro models, which feature two-stack low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) OLED panels, the iPad Air is expected to use single-stack low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS) panels, meaning that they may be dimmer and continue to lack ProMotion.
Apple's plan to transition the iPad mini from an LCD to an OLED display is already widely rumored, with reports suggesting the iPad mini 8 will adopt OLED later this year, albeit using the same cheaper single-stack LTPS panel.
Once the iPad mini and iPad Air receive the display upgrade, the entry-level iPad will be the only model in Apple's tablet lineup without an OLED panel.
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