MacBook Air OLED has reportedly been delayed until at least 2028 – and here’s why
- Apple’s MacBook Air may not get OLED until 2028 or even later
- Previous rumors suggested the screen upgrade could come in 2027
- It seems like Apple is having trouble balancing costs and supply chain issues
Apple’s plans to introduce OLED screens with its laptops there seems to be a constant stream of rumors, and here’s another one claiming that as far as the MacBook Air is concerned, this display upgrade may not happen until some time in the future.
While the MacBook Pro is still expected to make the switch to OLED in 2026 – bearing in mind that these are just rumors, although it has been put forward quite strongly at this point – the MacBook Air may have to wait until 2028, or possibly even later.
That’s the word from a new report published by the Korean tech site The Electric – appropriately add skepticism – claiming that, according to industry sources, the MacBook Air won’t get the OLED treatment in 2027 as previously claimed.
Why not? Well, the reason lies in the prices, but also in supply chain issues.
The MacBook Air is of course Apple’s regular laptop aimed at consumers, and its price is very different from that of the regular laptop MacBook Prothat’s aimed at professional use (and creatives, or enthusiasts, or others with deeper pockets when it comes to spending on technology).
The introduction of OLED is quite an increase in the cost of the laptop, as you’d expect – nice screens don’t come cheap. And while this isn’t as much of an issue for the more expensive MacBook Pro, it’s more of an issue with the MacBook Air, which can’t put as much pressure on affordability.
What this means is that Apple needs to figure out how the MacBook Air and OLED can work price-wise. Instead of using two-stack tandem OLED technology – panels with two emissive layers, which offer better brightness and longer screen life – as rumored for the MacBook Pro, Apple could look at a single-stack OLED panel for the MacBook Air.
Essentially a cheaper approach, one that would also differentiate between the quality of these laptops and the product segmentation that Apple would obviously want to maintain. After all, there has to be a reason to pay a lot more money for the MacBook Pro.
A difficult balancing act
In short, it sounds like Apple is exploring its OLED options here, and finding that supplies and choices are currently scarce locally in terms of more affordable routes forward. As a result, working out the reality of a MacBook Air OLED could take longer than expected, pending the time when the supply chain is in better shape to strike an affordable deal for the screen upgrade – hence the possible delay until 2028 , or further out.
Just to underline that we need to be careful with this chatter, but having said that, all of the above does make some sense. Furthermore, if MacRumorswho mocked the report also notes that the iPad Pro OLED has not delivered the sales Apple had hoped for, and that shipment numbers have dropped significantly this year – from an expected 10 million units of the tablet, reportedly down to 6- 7 million. This could raise concerns for Apple about the appeal of OLED on the MacBook Air, in the near term.
On the consumer side, we think the obvious concern from their perspective is that if we start talking about trade-offs for cheaper OLED – and losing the longevity benefits of the two-stack tandem solution for the MacBook Pro Screens – How Can MacBook Air OLEDs Do Well in Their Lives? However, we are getting way ahead of ourselves here, into deeply speculative territory.