Right now, the best MacBook Pro laptops come with Liquid Retina XDR displays packed with mini-LED technology, and they’re absolutely incredible. Yet despite their quality, there have been persistent rumors that Apple will switch to OLED screens. Well, if you are looking forward to this change then we have some bad news.
During a webinar with Bloomberg Intelligence (via MacRumors), display industry expert Ross Young claimed that MacBook Pros with OLED panels are still at least three years away from release. If you’re eager for Apple to make its incredible screen even better, it’s going to be a long time to wait.
OLED displays boast great brightness and contrast, deep blacks, and strong power efficiency that can improve battery life. If implemented in the MacBook Pro, they could help take Apple’s flagship laptop to new heights.
Young believes the problem is that it could take years for manufacturers in Apple’s supply chain to be ready to produce OLED panels at the scale Apple needs. Right now, they are not in a position to do this on a large scale.
Young says this means we could wait until 2026 or 2027 until the first OLED MacBook Pro models hit the market. That second date is also later than Young’s previous prediction for when OLED panels might debut in the MacBook Pro.
The perfect replacement?
Thankfully, the situation is not serious as the MacBook Pro’s existing displays are already very good. When we reviewed the latest 14-inch MacBook Pro, we called its screen “uncompetitive” in the laptop world.
Our reviewer added, “There’s no other laptop that has the complete package of brightness, color, and HDR performance.” “Even the recent glut of Mini-LED and OLED gaming laptops coming this year aren’t as bright as the MacBook Pro’s 1,600 nits.”
Because of this, Apple is probably happy to take its time when it comes to OLED screens. After all, OLED technology isn’t perfect – it can be prone to burn-in, for one thing – and Apple may want to take note of this before making the switch to its laptop panels on such a large scale.
So, don’t expect Apple to rush out and replace already excellent technology without making sure that its replacement is even better. However, if Apple is able to overcome OLED’s weaknesses, its displays could surpass those of rival laptops.
