What They Say
DSCC published some data on its blog that looked at displays for ‘advanced’ displays as part of its Advanced IT Display report. The firm said that the Apple 12.9″ iPad Pro has done particularly well with panel shipments of 1.9 million units in Q4 2021, up 90% QoQ and bringing the advanced sector to rise by 35% QoQ to 2.57 million units. Apple’s tablet took 74% of the total advanced market.
For the year, the tablet market grew to 6.7 million units, up 99%, because of the success of Apple taking 58% of the market with its miniLED backlight, with no other model at above 9%. Samsung was #2 for the year at 19% followed by Lenovo, Huawei and BBK.
The blog looks ahead and forecasts 8.1 million panels in 2022, with MiniLED taking 66% and the Samsung Tab S8+ taking up to 17%. OLEDs are expected to be broadly flat this year. DSCC no longer expects the miniLED technology to be moved down to the 11″ iPad Pro, but it does expect another 27″ monitor with miniLED later this year with 5K resolution and an oxide backplane, possibly with support to 120Hz. The firm said that up to now Ennostar has been the exclusive supplier of miniLED chips, but San’an is rumoured to have offered to reduce costs by double digits and will become a supplier in Q2.
Later, DSCC believes that Apple will introduce OLED-based iPad Pro models in 11″ and 12.9″ with the 12.9″ coming from LGD and the 11″ from SDC as well as LGD as LGD is established in supplying the tandem structure that Apple wants. DSCC said that LGD has ordered an additional tandem FMM VTE tool from Canon Tokki for AP4/E6 Phase 4 to support this, possibly in the first half of 2023. The blog discusses some of the yield issues of Touch on TFE and the SDC and BOE plans for tandem tools.
What We Think
I really like the iPad Pro I have with the 12.9″ miniLED. However, with the Magic Keyboard, it feels significantly heavier than my ThinkPad. Checking, it weighs 1367 gms against 1078 gms for my (lightweight) ThinkPad. It probably is more powerful and has longer battery life, but the weight is significant. Moving to an OLED should help Apple with that part of the specification. (BR)
(note that a typo in the original DSCC report was corrected to change this article from 2.7 million to 2.57 million units. Thanks also to Ross Young for pointing out a chart he had posted on twitter to show advanced tablet unit share that was added.)
OLED vs. MiniLED Tablets (note tablets, not panels). Source:DSCC
DSCC’s Advanced Tablet Share Trends
