LG insider points to Apple OLED notebook

Release imminent. Allegedly

An LG staffer has made the very bold claim that 15in Apple notebooks equipped with OLED displays will appear within months.

Last year, LG signed a $500m deal with Apple to supply the Mac maker with unspecified types of displays through to 2013. This week, an unnamed LG insider told website SmartHouse that the deal includes 15in OLED panels which, it's claimed, Apple has chosen to built into new notebooks supposedly set to appear in June.

It’s worth taking the claim with a big pinch of salt. Firstly, putting a 15in OLED screen into an Apple notebook would surely push the machine’s price well beyond the £2000 mark and make it the reserve of those with only the most well-lined of pockets.

Would even Apple launch an ultra-premium product during the downturn?

Secondly, Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference takes place in June and the show’s become the launch pad for all things iPhone.

Nonetheless, the mole added that once Apple’s unveiled its 15in OLED notebook, LG will then launch its own standalone 15in OLED panels later in the year.

This timeline tallies with recent comments made by LG executive Amitabh Tiwari that LG-branded OLED displays “should be here by the end of 2009”. Although it’s worth noting that Tiwari never said which size OLED screens punters should expect.

But the mole didn’t stop at leaking news of an Apple OLED notebook. The insider also claimed to know that LG will launch a 32in OLED TV in June 2010, priced at roughly A$4000 (£1933/$2814/€2177).

We're not convinced LG has priced up a product that won't be released for another 14 months, so we'd urge caution here too. It’s almost impossible to predict how much a 32in OLED will cost more than one year from now – particularly since the OLED TV market’s still in its infancy.

LG’s previously promised to punch out 32in OLED TVs in volume by 2011, and Tiwari also warned that they will “cost 2.1 times the price of an LCD”. ®