According to reports, sales of the latest iPad Pro were lower than expected, leading to underutilization of production lines, and LG Display plans to repurpose them for iPhones. Despite the popularity of the 2024 iPad Pro and its OLED screen, it failed to spark as many buyers to upgrade as expected. Now, a new report claims that LG Display is pivoting away from the iPad Pro to make more iPhone screens due to low demand and little prospect of growth.
According to TheElec, although switching from one size of OLED screen to another, reusing the production line is still a major undertaking. The work is estimated to cost $1.4 billion.
Manufacturing the iPad Pro screen production line initially cost $2.3 billion. It is said that despite the additional new investment, the result is that LG Display not only saves costs, but also increases the production of iPhone screens.
LG Display already has three iPhone screen production lines. Converting the iPad Pro production line to an iPhone production line can produce 15,000 more screens per month.
In addition to size differences, the iPhone and iPad Pro screens require several different processes. For example, the iPad Pro uses a double-layer OLED panel instead of a single layer, and it uses a glass substrate, while the iPhone uses a polyimide substrate.
Manufacturing iPhone displays requires different equipment to produce touch components, and LG Display must also obtain approval from Apple.
In fact, LG Display may be aiming to build a production line that can switch between the two screens. Even so, the company is thought to still have iPad Pro screens in stock, so it could be switching to iPhones sooner rather than later.
The OLED screen is one of the 2024 iPad Pro's main selling points, along with its M4 processor and significantly slimmer design. The iPad Pro was once the only iPad with a large 12.9-inch screen, but now the slower, less expensive iPad Air also offers that option.
Therefore, the iPad Air is likely to capture some of the market share of the iPad Pro, even though it is only equipped with an M2 processor. Still, the iPad remains Apple's second-largest device, despite a long-term decline in sales.