Apple Plans OLED Displays for MacBooks, Evaluates Foldable iPads: Report (nikkei.com) 26
Apple will expand its use of advanced OLED screens to iPads and MacBooks and is considering eventually introducing foldable tablets, a move set to further shake up the $150 billion display industry as it shifts away from traditional LCD screens, Asian news outlet Nikkei reported Friday. From the report: OLED, or organic light-emitting diode, displays are already used in most premium smartphones, including iPhones. Apple plans to deploy the tech in its high-end iPads next year, multiple tech industry executives told Nikkei Asia. An OLED MacBook model is also under development for production in the second half of 2025 at the earliest, the people said. The growing penetration of OLED is a significant win for Samsung Display and LG Display of South Korea and China's BOE Technology Holding, which have all bet heavily on this expensive display technology.
On the flip side, it could be a blow to display makers that do not have much presence in this segment, including JDI and Sharp of Japan, and AUO and Innolux of Taiwan. Apple has also started evaluating the possibility of making foldable iPads after it deploys the flexible OLED screens on the tablet, but it does not have a concrete timeline for doing so, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker is not the first company to adopt OLED displays for tablets. Huawei, for instance, has been a significant driver of this trend, which in turn has helped strengthen the Chinese display supply chain.
On the flip side, it could be a blow to display makers that do not have much presence in this segment, including JDI and Sharp of Japan, and AUO and Innolux of Taiwan. Apple has also started evaluating the possibility of making foldable iPads after it deploys the flexible OLED screens on the tablet, but it does not have a concrete timeline for doing so, according to two sources familiar with the matter. The iPhone maker is not the first company to adopt OLED displays for tablets. Huawei, for instance, has been a significant driver of this trend, which in turn has helped strengthen the Chinese display supply chain.
So, people could not complain about Soldered SSDs (Score:2)
Because long before the machine fails because the SSDs achieve the Write limit, the burn in on the display will be so high that one will junk the machine anyway... ;-)
And for what is worth, I love OLEDs.
And I hate soldered SSDs (and soldered RAM too), not because they get a write limit, but because I like to buy my machines for my use case today, and do a refresh mid life of SSD capacityy and RAM for my use case 3 years from purcharse.
And yes, I understand that in the case of RAM LP-DDR3&4 were availabl
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And yes, I understand that in the case of RAM LP-DDR3&4 were available only on Soldered versions, but still...
Yeah... soldered flash is inexcusable and is clearly just gouging. LPDDR is a tradeoff that is often worth making, annoying though it is.
PS: Here is hope that the new CAMM2 Standard brings back upgradeable RAM.
CAMM2 already? I didn't know CAMM1 was out!
Btw, sounds like you meant to paste a link, so I googled.
https://arstechnica.com/gadget... [arstechnica.com]
Looks like it does include LPDDR! That was always a pla
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Apple can't have socketed RAM. They need it to be on the same substrate as the CPU and GPU, tightly coupled. The CPU needs massive memory bandwidth to deliver its mid range performance, because ARM code is a lot less dense than AMD64. The bandwidth is also shared with the GPU, which has no dedicated memory. Most other iGPUs have a small dedicated cache memory (512MB for AMD parts), but Apple Mx doesn't.
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Apple can't have socketed RAM
Yes that's true. In this instance it's reasonable since they do gain something for that. They also solder flash because they're dicks and their laptops have pretty short support before they're functionally useless. Also the OS sucks and the UI sucks.
Also, the macbook pros are just ugly. There's something about the horrid selection of curves which just doesn't go well together.
The bandwidth is also shared with the GPU, which has no dedicated memory.
AMD tried that for a while wit
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I use the term "disposable computing". There will be no concept of "retro" in the future, everything gets replaced and forgotten about.
It'll be entertaining calling out the bullshitters and liars at the top of our lungs when it comes to Go-Green vs. Disposable Greed.
Can't subscribe to both.
Re: So, people could not complain about Soldered S (Score:2)
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They stop getting updates from Apple. Then you jailbreak them and keep pressing on, for another 5 years. My 2017 MacBook Pro runs Sonoma just fine. (Opencore legacy Patcher)
It's not a Jailbreak, per se; and yes, I almost always works a treat!
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Then you install a real operating system on them. ;)
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The SSD "write limit," as you call it, is still longer than the MTBF of spinning hard drives.
As for OLED burn-in, I've had Samsung phones since the first OLED model came out. While burn-in was a serious problem a decade ago it's really not a problem anymore.
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The SSD "write limit," as you call it, is still longer than the MTBF of spinning hard drives.
No.
It's not comparable at all.
The TBW of an SSD is directly proportional to how large the SSD is.
On larger SSDs, yes, it'll take you a long time to hit it. On 512GB SSDs, it's quite reachable in a few years.
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I've got a 6 year old Android tablet with an OLED showing no signs of burn-in.
I imagine if I used it outside a lot at high brightness, that'd probably be a different case.
Though even that's hard to say, because the OLED on my 6-year-old iPhone X that I just replaced also showed no signs of burn-in.
Got rid of it because its battery capacity was at about 67%.
So no, I don't think the screens will (normally) be the first item you need to replace on your aging Mac
Planned obsolescence (Score:2)
Marketing can trick buyers into paying more for OLED, increasing profit margin; while, burn-in problems will force everyone to replace them after 3 years (1 year warranty). Mission accomplished.
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Marketing can trick buyers into paying more for OLED, increasing profit margin; while, burn-in problems will force everyone to replace them after 3 years (1 year warranty). Mission accomplished.
Ya know, OLED has many advantages over LCD, and one disadvantage. But that disadvantage only manifests itself in certain edge cases, and well-known techniques, such as the Random Walk, can largely or completely negate those issues.
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If you've ever owned an OLED screen on a tablet or laptop, you know that it is fucking vastly superior.
Apple has been fighting this for a long time. I'm glad they're caving. The biggest disappointment to my $6k M1 Max MBP is its fucking MiniLED screen.
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meh what are you referring to?
Many laptops have replaceable batteries. If you want a phone with a replaceable battery then buy one, e.g. a fairphone. You don't even need any tools. Old school, pop off the back and take the battery out. Bonus it comes with software updates for even longer than iPhones.
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But I can also say that not a single laptop I have purchased in 15 years has had a battery that didn't require complete disassembly to replace.
So really, I wonder what we're calling "replaceable".
You can replace the battery in a Mac too... if you're willing to tear the thing apart.
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All currently ThinkPads only require the bottom cover to be removed to replace the battery, not compete disassembly. 2 minute job.
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However, when people say that, I think they're referring more to the old laptops where the battery could removed without taking out a single screw.
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Mac batteries are glued in. You need more than just a screwdriver. I'm not sure if you can order new ones from Apple either.
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As for whether or not you can order new ones, that is a solid distinction. I've only tried to replace a single laptop battery in recent memory, and that was for an HP Spectre x360. HP wouldn't sell me one, because they were shipping a new model.
Apple is the same as the rest of the industry, here.
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Apparently the the screws holding in the battery for the ThinkPad are a selling point.
Still, when one says "replaceable battery", they're generally referring to something like the ThinkPad X220- how laptops all used to be, I think.
The battery is glued in on my SteamDeck, and I haven't heard it referred to as non-replaceable yet.
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So really, I wonder what we're calling "replaceable".
Level of obnoxiousness. Last battery I replaced in a laptop was in a Carbon X1 which is a thin, light laptop from Lenovo.
You unscrew the 5 back cover screws to take off the back cover. You can't even lose the screws without extreme effort since they're captive screws to make it easy to take off and replace the back cover.
You then unscrew the mounting screws for the battery and replace it. It's a very easy operation, it took less than 5 minutes all told t