First iPad mini with OLED display will come with a larger screen
Apple will account for the vast majority of hybrid OLED display orders in the next few years, riding high on orders for the iPad franchise. Display industry analysts from DSCC estimate that Apple's hybrid OLED orders will be 90% of the total in 2027, as more iPad series move to OLED screens, including the iPad Air and iPad Mini.
Currently, Apple only says the high-end iPad Pro series with dual-stack tandem OLED panels that allowed it to craft the 11-inch and 13-inch iPad Pro (2024) models as some of the thinnest electronics devices ever made.
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Next in line for the OLED upgrade will be the iPad Mini, report DSCC's supply chain sources for The Elec. The current 8-inch iPad still comes with an LCD screen with an 8.3-inch diagonal, while the next iPad Mini with hybrid OLED display will offer an 8.4-inch panel, which might be achieved by simply shrinking the bezel a bit, like Apple is expected to do with the iPhone 16 series.
Needless to say, the OLED iPad Mini won't come with the fancy tandem dual-stack OLED that increases brightness and lifespan of the screen significantly, but is costly to acquire. The OLED iPad Mini is reportedly going to launch with a single-stack screen, like the vast majority of OLED devices.
Dual-stack tandem OLEDs have predominantly been made by LG for automotive applications so far, such as the pillar-to-pillar Hyperscreen in the Mercedes electric cars. Tandem OLED screens are supposed to go anywhere that brightness and longevity are of utmost importance. After cars, it is tablets and laptops that will benefit from dual-stack OLEDs as people generally replace that gear less often than they do iPhones.
Apple will be the main hybrid OLED display panel user for the foreseeable future, because it considers them a good tradeoff for quality and reliability reasons. When it decided to equip its top-shelf iPad Pro line with OLED screens, it demanded LG and Samsung make not only dual-stack OLEDs for it, but also use glass, instead of a plastic substrate, so that the screen doesn't appear "wavy" to the touch.
This hybrid approach worked, and Apple is planning to launch an iPad Mini with such an OLED screen in 2026. Mum's the word on the release of the first OLED iPad Air just yet, though.
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