T3 is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s why you can trust us

OLEDs are even better displays than the Mini-LEDs in the best MacBook Pro and iPad models. There's just one problem

All the best features, news, tips and great deals to help you live a better life through technology

Thank you for signing up to T3. You will receive a verification email shortly.

There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again.

The mini-LED displays in the best iPads and MacBook Pros are wonderful things, but as you'll know from your iPhone 13 or Apple Watch Series 7 Apple has an even better display technology: OLED. That tech is coming to iPads and MacBooks – but sadly you shouldn't expect an announcement at WWDC 2022 this week. That's because Samsung hasn't built the production line to make them yet.

I think they'll be worth waiting for, though. While Mini-LED is a big step up from standard LED displays, it's still an LED display: it may have more, smaller LEDs in the backlight to deliver better contrast and colour, but it's still a backlit LED display. OLED displays aren't backlit, and that's potentially a very big deal for next-gen iPads and Macs.

This is something we're seeing play out in the best TVs you can buy right now. At the top of the market you'll find two display technologies competing with one another: mini-LED and OLED. And while mini-LED is good, OLED is generally better in all but two respects: size and price. OLEDs are generally more expensive than similarly specified mini-LED TVs, but manufacturers have struggled to make them in smaller sizes – so at the time of writing the smallest OLED in our best TV guide is 43 inches.

Size is not an issue with smaller devices such as phones and laptops: there are lots of models featuring OLED, from my iPhone to laptops such as the Dell XPS 13 9310 OLED and HP Spectre X360. But according to MacRumors (opens in new tab) , the screens for an iPad or MacBook Pro won't be ready until 2025.

That's a shame, because an OLED MacBook Pro or iPad would be a brilliant thing: OLED means genuinely black blacks, exceptional contrast and gorgeous colours, and because you're lighting the display at a per-pixel level you can often eke out plenty more battery life too – something that's always going to be important in mobile computers. But for the time being it looks like the best iPads and best MacBooks that haven't already ben launched are going to be running mini-LED, and it's likely to stay that way for a few more years.

Writer, musician and broadcaster Carrie Marshall has been covering technology since 1998 and is particularly interested in how tech can help us live our best lives. Her CV is a who’s who of magazines, newspapers, websites and radio programmes ranging from T3, Techradar and MacFormat to the BBC, Sunday Post and People’s Friend. Carrie has written thirteen books, ghost-wrote two more and co-wrote another seven books and a Radio 2 documentary series. When she’s not scribbling, she’s the singer in Glaswegian rock band HAVR (havrmusic.com (opens in new tab) ).

The best folding phone for most people is now a whole lot cheaper. This pocket rocket is a brilliant bendy buy

By Carrie Marshall • Published 24 June 22

FromSoftware's Hidetaka Miyazaki also comments on the possibility of a sequel

By Matthew Forde • Published 24 June 22

Apple has updated its iWork apps again with some small but significant new features

By Carrie Marshall • Published 23 June 22

Apple's investing heavily in next-gen display tech for future iPad and MacBook models

By Carrie Marshall • Published 20 June 22

The M1 was revolutionary. The M2 isn't, but it's still an important upgrade

By Carrie Marshall • Published 8 June 22

For most people Big Sur is the better operating system, but there are some crucial things to consider

By Carrie Marshall • Published 29 May 22

Universal Control is finally coming out of beta and feels a little bit like Apple magic

By Carrie Marshall • Published 16 May 22

The Dell XPS 8950 is a powerful desktop PC and has both room and power to spare

By Richard Baguley • Last updated 10 May 22

Before you buy a new MacBook Pro, make sure you learn about these three things

By Max Slater-Robins • Published 25 March 22

Fancy an iPad Pro that magically transforms into a MacBook Pro? I do

By Carrie Marshall • Last updated 28 February 22

T3 is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street New York, NY 10036