On April 17th, according to The Elec, LG is developing a new OLED panel etching technology for Apple, which will bring thinner hybrid OLED panels while reducing production costs (note: initial costs seem to have increased).

According to reports, this hybrid technology will combine a rigid OLED glass substrate with a flexible OLED thin-film encapsulation (TFE), making the panel thinner than rigid OLED panels and cheaper than flexible OLED panels because it does not require a backlight layer.

However, at present, "ultra-thin glass" is prone to cracking when transferred to the next process on the production line, so LG is developing synchronous etching and cutting processes to reduce production risks.

The relevant reports on this technology can be traced back to August 2022, with news suggesting that Apple may introduce this technology for the iPad before 2024.

Today's report indicates that LG will only apply this new technology in its 8th generation OLED product line, while next year's iPad models will continue to use LG's existing 6th generation OLED production line, with etching handled by Avatec.

Of course, Samsung started developing hybrid OLED technology earlier than LG and deployed it on the sixth generation OLED production line to produce panels for iPads, with etching being handled by Chemtronics.

However, the report did not mention which iPad models would be the first to introduce this technology, but Ross Young previously revealed that Apple plans to launch its first 11 inch iPad Pro and 12.9 inch iPad Pro models equipped with OLED displays in 2024.