Apple is preparing a laptop with a foldable display: Samsung Display and LG Display in anticipation of growth
Apple is in talks with display manufacturers to release a MacBook with a flexible display. This move has a chance to revive the folding display market, which is currently going through a difficult period, Business Korea writes.
According to tech industry insiders, Apple plans to introduce its foldable laptop no later than 2026. The company is already negotiating with suppliers to create this new MacBook model. The new product is expected to be presented in 2025 and launched next year.
Korean companies such as Samsung and LG, in turn, are developing their own strategies for the development and production of sophisticated OLED panels for laptops. This is happening in parallel with the intensification of the market for folding displays for IT devices.
Samsung Display plans to invest 4.1 trillion won (about $3.1 billion) in the production of new generation OLED panels in 2025-2026. LG Display is also not far behind, investing in the production of medium-sized OLED panels that will be used, in particular, in tablets.
Although large displays are more difficult to produce in high resolution, they generate higher profitability. For example, folding displays for laptops are more profitable than folding displays for smartphones.
However, Korean manufacturers have just introduced the first laptops with OLED panels, but have not yet released any with flexible OLED displays. Samsung Electronics has so far only registered a trademark for foldable laptops.
As of today, Asus is the leader of the foldable laptop market. In September 2022, this Taiwanese company released the world’s first 17-inch folding OLED laptop, the ZenBook 17 Fold OLED. The panels for this device are reportedly manufactured by the Chinese company BOE.
