Apple is laying the foundations for a profound evolution of the iMac, aiming to abandon current LCD standards in favor of new generation OLED panels. According to the latest rumors coming from Korea, the company has already commissioned historical partners such as Samsung Display and LG Display to start the production of 24-inch samples using their mass production lines. At the moment, however, there is little to celebrate, as the entry of the new technology will not happen anytime soon.
If the project were to materialize, it would be the largest OLED display ever integrated into an Apple device, marking a turning point for the entire desktop range.
The technical specifications requested by Cupertino reflect the desire to raise the bar of visual performance without sacrificing current definition. Apple is aiming for a brightness of 600 nits, a significant increase compared to the 500 nits of today’s model, while maintaining a density of approximately 218 pixels per inch.
Achieving this balance requires significant engineering effort, especially for vendors who must adapt technologies created for less dense television screens or monitors to a much higher standard of clarity.
Samsung Display appears to be at the forefront of this technological race, with the intention of ship the first prototypes to Apple as early as the second half of 2026. To achieve this, the Korean giant intends to evolve its Quantum Dot OLED technology taking advantage of new inkjet machines capable of pushing the pixel density well beyond the 160 PPI of current monitors.
The competition makes different choices
On the opposite front, LG Display is exploring a different and potentially more complex path, based on a five-layer structure which includes an additional green emission level for maximize shine. LG is also perfecting the internal technology called fLEAP, designed to eliminate the limitations of traditional metal masks and guarantee superior performance not only on the iMac, but also on future MacBooks.
Despite the technological excitement in the suppliers’ laboratories, the commercial debut of this revolutionary iMac is not imminent. There the hypothesized time window for the launch is between 2029 and 2030, making this project a long-term vision for the future of Apple’s fixed workstation.
Meanwhile, the iMac line will continue its incremental upgrade path: after the recent move to the M4 chip and the introduction of the new Center Stage camera, the next a natural step will be the adoption of the M5 architecture to keep performance high while waiting for the real visual revolution.
