I REALLY Don’t Want a MacBook or iPad With an OLED Screen.

I hope the rumors aren’t true.

One common thread among Apple devices for the past decade — at least — is the fact that each and every one of them has a genuinely fantastic display (for the right kind of user, that is). And Apple’s display quality has come a long way over the years.

Of course there have been a couple of outliers. I wasn’t a fan of the mini-LED display on the 12.9-inch iPad Pro due to its light blooming issues, and the iPhone XR’s display was arguably very “budget” looking. The 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro had some rather noticeable ghosting when moving light colored elements over a dark background (scrolling light colored text on a dark background, for example).

But the mini-LED displays on the 14-inch and 16–inch MacBook Pros? Wow. Beautiful. Bright. Color accurate. High refresh rate. They’re everything I’ve wanted in a display.

In fact, I wrote back in 2022 that my MacBook Pro has the best display I’ve ever used. And I mean ever. It’s mini-LED display has zero backlight bleed (a display defect I absolutely detest), is bright, color accurate, and overall excellent.

But the rumors are that Apple is considering a switch to OLED for at least some of its iPads and MacBooks, and that’s something I absolutely do not want to see.

Apple, if you’re listening, please hear me out.

OLED has its advantages

Compared to the majority of IPS displays, OLED panels offer deeper, richer blacks, brighter light colors, wider viewing angles and even power savings

A standard LED LCD panel lights up every pixel — even if it’s displaying nothing and is “black,” and as you can imagine, this requires more energy. Even if there’s nothing on the screen, the backlight is on for the whole screen with no way to light only a the portion of the screen it needs to.

An OLED panel, on the other hand, can individually light up only the pixels needed to display an image. So black parts of an image can be truly “off,” with no blacklight bleed.

OLED panels can be thinner than their counterparts — and even flexible if the application calls for it.

But the drawbacks are considerable

There’s one haunting phrase lurking behind every OLED panel ever sold: burn in. Over time, as static images are displayed on an OLED panel, the pixels used to display that image wear more quickly. And that wear can result in a mark on the screen that will never go away.

Linus Tech Tips has an amusing and informative explanation of this phenomenon here:

Any device that will be used to display a static image — like the macOS menu bar or the Windows task bar — is not a good candidate for OLED in my opinion.

Yes, I know. I know. There are manufacturers who have used OLED panels in their laptops over the past few years, but I have avoided them personally and have advised my friends, colleagues, acquaintances and even Larry in accounting to avoid them.

It’s not that they don’t produce bright, rich colors and look great (for now). It’s that they simply aren’t likely to last as long as a typical LED display.

“But, Michael, your iPhone has an OLED display!”

Yes. Indeed it does. But here’s the difference: My iPhone doesn’t spend hours of the day displaying the same static elements like a typical computer does.

On my iPhone, I’m swiping through content, using a variety of full-screen apps — each with its own UI, and leaving the display off when I’m not using it.

And even so, burn in is an issue for phones as well.

While I’ve seen it more in Android phones, susceptibility to burn in is just a fact of life for OLED panels. While it tends to take a long time to happen (or to be noticeable) it means that an OLED panel is a burning candle wick that can only last so long without lasting, permanent marks.

But the problems don’t end there.

I’ve also noticed on my own iPhone 11 Pro Max and now iPhone 13 Pro Max that display color uniformity is still a problem. Apple replaced the display of my 11 Pro Max for me under AppleCare+ for this issue — and the new screen still had the same problem, just a bit less. I haven’t bothered to have them replace my 13 Pro Max because it’s likely that the replacement will have the same uniformity issue.

And I’m not alone on that.

Some OLED screens are better than others in terms of uniformity. Some panels are fantastic. Others are no better to look at than a cheap IPS display on a $400 Windows laptop.

This isn’t limited to Apple either. I bought and returned a Google Pixel for this very issue.

But I have never, even once, had uniformity issues with a mini-LED display.

And never, even once, have I worried about burn in with a mini-LED display.

OLED + static images = bad news

At the end of the day, here’s the thing: OLED works in phones — the uniformity issues aside — because they don’t tend to have static elements on the screen for hours and hours at a time. Unless, of course, you have a phone with an always-on display constantly showing something like a clock even when it’s not in use.

Still, burn in can certainly happen even without using an always-on display. I have personally had it happen with my own Android phones — back when I owned Android phones, and it’s just the nature of the technology. I’ve seen app icons burned into the screen over time. I’ve seen menu bar elements and wifi and cell service indicators permanently emblazoned on the panel.

Burn in can be mitigated or delayed by slightly shifting which pixels are being used to display an image so that the same pixels aren’t always used and thus helps to even out the wear a bit. But the device needs to support this. Sony explains the feature as it pertains to its OLED TVs:

An image shift on your OLED TV is due to a function setting called Pixel shift. This function shifts the image after a certain amount of time to prevent image retention on the screen in order to prolong the life of the display panel. It’s recommended that this function is set to on. — Sony

Many of us use our iPads as second monitors — also displaying the Mac menu bar or Dock. We frequently use apps with static display elements for hours at a time. It’s easy to get lost in Procreate or Adobe Illustrator creating a piece of art — and that means that certain UI elements have been on the screen in the same place for long periods. Over time, that can lead to burn in.

As we use our Macs, we’re typically displaying the Dock and menu bar, along with other common display elements. And over the days, weeks, months and years, the images of those elements can be permanently burned in to the display, with no remedy whatsoever except a display replacement.

Is Apple prepared to replace displays with burn in under warranty?

Some manufacturers consider burn in normal wear and tear for OLED displays and not subject to replacement under warranty. This is a frustrating stance indeed.

But my concern is what Apple would do in this case.

Apple considers “image persistence” and “burn-in” to be “expected behavior” of OLED panels.

If you look at an OLED display off-angle, you might notice slight shifts in color and hue. At reduced display brightness levels against black backgrounds, you might notice a slight blur or color change while scrolling. These are characteristics of OLED and are normal behavior. With extended long-term use, OLED displays can also show slight visual changes. This is also expected behavior and can include “image persistence” or “burn-in,” where the display shows a faint remnant of an image even after a new image appears on the screen. Image persistence is temporary and disappears after a few minutes of normal use. Burn-in can occur in more extreme cases such as when the same high-contrast image is continuously displayed at high brightness for prolonged periods of time.

Source: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT208191

This is taken from Apple’s support page about the “Super Retina XDR” display in the iPhone.

Apple further claims:

We’ve engineered the Super Retina and Super Retina XDR displays to be the best in the industry in reducing the effects of OLED burn-in. This includes special algorithms that monitor the usage of individual pixels to produce display calibration data. Your iPhone uses that data to automatically adjust the brightness levels for each pixel as needed to reduce visual effects from burn-in and to maintain a consistent viewing experience. The auto-brightness function can further reduce the effects of burn-in and image persistence.

It sounds to me like Apple acknowledges the reality of OLED’s susceptibility to burn in and is perfectly okay with it.

And would a company that considers burn in to be “expected behavior” likely replace a display that exhibits the “expected behavior” under warranty?

Maybe. But my guess is no.

And perhaps in one-off instances they would. But what would the company’s official policy state? That’s what I wonder.

Mini-LED’s pros and cons

The current 14–inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro and the 12.9-inch iPad Pro use mini-LED display technology. This is a vast improvement over standard IPS panels.

Like OLED, mini-LED is a far more power efficient method of lighting a screen. Only the areas that need to be lit up will actually be lit up. This results in deep blacks and bright colors with no backlight bleeding (which is something that drives me crazy in standard laptop displays).

A mini-LED display is lit in sections, whereas an OLED panel is lit on a pixel by pixel basis.

That means that when smaller areas of the screen need to be lit against an all-black or very dark background and in a dark room, users may see what’s called blooming. This effect can make certain display elements look like they’re glowing or have an ethereal look to them.

In most viewing conditions this isn’t a problem in the least, and I will say that I don’t even notice it on my MacBook Pro — even using my Mac late at night in a darker room sometimes. But those who are more sensitive to this thing might not like this effect.

Some mini-LED displays suffer from this more than others, and the prevalence of the effect depends heavily on the number of dimming zones a particular display has.

However, it certainly beats having to play the display uniformity lottery with OLED panels.

Neither display technology is perfect

Both mini-LED and OLED have major advantages and a few drawbacks. In my opinion, OLED has more — and more serious — drawbacks than mini-LED does, but it’s undeniable that neither is perfect.

OLED and mini-LED are both great in certain applications and types of devices, as long as we acknowledge the strengths and weaknesses of each.

Both display technologies are improvements over the typical IPS display panels of the past, and both can produce excellent quality images with beautiful color accuracy.

The question in my mind, however, is not which one is perfect. The question we should be asking is which one is the best fit for the majority of users at this point in time?

In my opinion, it certainly isn’t OLED. And I truly hope that Apple agrees with me — at least on the Pro-level devices like the MacBook Pro and iPad Pro.

What could Apple use next?

Apple still equips the MacBook Air with a standard IPS display. No doubt Apple considers that display tech good enough for the casual user for whom the Air would be more than sufficient.

I would love to see mini-LED come to the Air.

It was reported back in 2020 that Apple is working making investments i another display technology called micro-LED.

Mini-LED and micro-LED are not the same, and micro-LED is not a direct successor to mini-LED. It works a bit differently, but it offers some major advantages which may be appealing to those who currently prefer OLED panels.

My hope is to see Apple bring more mini-LED products to the market, with the goal of moving toward micro-LED in the near future.

Mini-LED is already light years ahead of the standard IPS type displays we commonly find on laptops today — in many ways. I would LOVE it if my Dell XPS 17’s display had the brightness and uniformity that I enjoy from my MacBook’s mini-LED panel.

But Apple may yet dive further into OLED technology, perhaps launching a few OLED-equipped products. And as much as I love my MacBook Pro, I don’t think I could be convinced to buy a Mac with an OLED panel. So I’m genuinely hoping Apple keeps people like me in mind.

Perhaps they will offer OLED on a few devices while sticking with the beautiful mini-LED panels we’ve come to know and love in the 14-inch and 16-inch MacBooks.

I can hope.