New M3 iPad Pro with OLED may have a ridiculously higher starting price

A new report said to be from Apple's supply chain claims that the OLED iPad Pro will be massively more expensive than the existing models, solely for advantages from the OLED screen.

Rumors about OLED in iPad have been churning for a long time. If the first rumors were to be believed, the product would have launched in 2022.

The latest rumor about the device, courtesy yeux1122 is that the product will cost a lot more than it does now. Specifically, the leaker is guessing that it will start at $1500 and will cost as much as $2000.

There's a lot to talk about with this rumor. Assuming that this applies to the entire iPad Pro line, this means that the 11-inch iPad will cost almost double it does now to start.

Even if just applies to the existing 12.9-inch model which is expected to grow to 13 inches with OLED technology, that's still a $400 premium from the existing $1199 starting price for the model.

It's also not clear about the $2000 price point. This is more than a fully-loaded 11-inch iPad Pro at present, but less than a maxed-out 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

The leaker postulates that Apple will lean heavily on promoting the OLED technology as superior to the existing technology. That may be the case for the Liquid Retina display in the 11-inch iPad Pro, but it may not be for the XDR display in the 12.9-inch iPad Pro.

And, the manufacturing cost for OLED in the 12.9-inch iPad is expected to be similar, unless Apple has some additional technological enhancements planned that haven't been leaked yet.

The report also discusses the rumored use of the two-stack OLED display.

LG Display is reportedly preparing to use a new OLED material set known as "RDE" in the OLED panel used in the iPad Pro. The material change will apparently be included in models launching in 2024.

The OLED panels used in the current iPhone displays are known as a "single-stack product," which uses one light-emitting layer. The RDE material LG Display wants to use has a two-stack tandem structure, where two light-emitting layers are stacked on top of each other.

The benefit of the two-stack system is that it can produce the same brightness as a single-stack panel, but consumes less power in the process. Efficiency and lifespan are also anticipated for the panel.

The provenance of the rumor posted on the Never blog isn't clear, and is impossible to confirm.

Yeux1122 has a mixed track record as it pertains to Apple products. They have predicted things accurately in the past, mostly after other rumor generators have posted them first. However, they very notably completely botched a $1999 price guess for the Apple Vision Pro just a day before WWDC 2023.

We are expecting OLED in 2024, finally. There are no new revelations in Monday's rumor, other than the price point — which at its face, combined with the clear miss on pricing for Apple Vision Pro casts significant doubt on this aspect of the rumor.