It is revealed that Samsung will mass-produce MacBook OLED panels in Q2 next year with an annual production capacity of 3 million.

[ Gearbest Technology News] Gearbestlearned from Korean media that Samsung Display plans to start mass production of OLED panels for Apple’s MacBook Pro in the second quarter of next year. This will be Apple's first MacBook product with an OLED screen and is expected to be launched as early as the fourth quarter of next year.

According to multiple industry sources, Samsung Display plans to mass-produce 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook OLED panels by the end of the second quarter of next year, with annual output expected to be 2 million to 3 million units. In order to promote mass production, Samsung Display will conduct trial production at its 8th generation OLED production line (A6) for IT by the end of this year, and mass production of related parts is scheduled for the first quarter of next year.

Korean media said Apple is considering reducing the manufacturing costs of some parts. Industry insiders said: “If the characteristics of Apple's newly developed parts to reduce costs do not meet expectations, the overall schedule may be adjusted,” but “it is still expected that relevant parts will be mass-produced in the first quarter of next year.” Samsung Display will exclusively supply all panels for Apple’s first OLED MacBook, which will be manufactured on its 8th generation OLED production line.

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The production line has a designed production capacity of 15,000 pieces per month (calculated based on the input of 8th generation glass substrates) and consists of two production lines with a monthly production capacity of 7.5K. Based on 14.3-inch OLED panels, the annual production capacity can reach 10 million units. Apple MacBook OLED will be produced using one of the 7.5K production lines, which is not a dedicated line for Apple.

It is reported that Samsung Display is negotiating with a number of companies and plans to supply OLED panels for IT produced by another 7.5K production line to other customers. If the products can be supplied to major notebook manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo, it will help improve production line utilization and reduce overall costs. If customer development progress is slow, Samsung Display may modify some production lines to produce OLED panels for other application fields, but it will need to re-develop the fine metal mask (FMM) and add additional equipment.

It is worth noting that the 8th generation OLED production line (B16) being built by BOE is designed to produce OLED panels for IT and smartphones at the same time, but it has not yet determined a customer.

It is reported that Apple has adjusted its product roadmap: it originally planned to launch OLED MacBook Pro in 2026 and OLED MacBook Air in 2027, but the latter has been postponed to after 2029. As an alternative, Apple will launch a MacBook Air with a TFT LCD screen in 2027.

Although Apple launched the OLED iPad for the first time last year, shipments did not meet expectations, and the outlook for OLED iPad shipments this year is not optimistic either. The current penetration rate of OLED in the IT product market is only 2-3%.

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