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Apple’s 2024 MacBook Pros are the company’s first laptops to use a quantum dot film for their LCDs, resulting in subtle but noticeable visual improvements.
The change was spotted by Ross Young, the CEO of Display Supply Chain Consultants. Young says that it should enhance motion performance, and match or surpass the color gamut — that is, the range of colors — displayed on older MacBooks.
Apple previously relied on a red KSF phosphor film, which Young suggests was picked for better power efficiency and an attempt to avoid toxic cadmium. Modern quantum dot films can be made cadmium-free, however, and may now be efficient enough to meet Apple’s demands. The company tends to pride itself on the battery life of MacBooks, with the 14-inch MacBook Pro M4 rated for 16 hours of web browsing.
Big Apple display news, they have adopted quantum dots for the first time. The latest MacBook Pro's (M4) use a quantum dot (QD) film rather than a red KSF phosphor film.
In the past, Apple went with the KSF solution due to better efficiency and lack of cadmium (Cd), but the… pic.twitter.com/5olq9lEHs9
— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) November 14, 2024
Quantum dot LCDs use synthetic nanocrystals in an attempt to better parallel the quality of OLED displays. OLED is still considered superior in terms of colors and contrast, but being LCD-based, quantum dot tech is typically more affordable. It’s increasingly common to see quantum dot TVs and monitors on the market, the best of them combining that with mini-LED backlighting, as on the MacBook Pro.
Apple has already switched many of its products over to OLED, including Apple Watches, most iPhones, and the iPad Pro lineup. An Omdia supply chain report suggests that MacBook Pros will only make the leap in 2026, presumably because of the cost of manufacturing larger panels. While the largest iPad Pro has a 13-inch OLED screen, the smallest MacBook Pro uses a 14-inch LCD, and power users can spring for a 16-inch display. Without driving parts costs down, MacBook Pros would inevitably see price hikes to keep profit margins up.
Shoppers may be waiting even longer for OLED to appear on the MacBook Air, since the earliest forecast for that change is 2027.
