Apple will reduce the iPad Pro's bezels with new CoF drivers from LG Innotek and LX Semicon

Apple is testing new CoF display driver technology to reduce bezels in the iPad Pro. Negotiations are underway with LG Innotek and LX Semicon. Mass production will start in the second half of 2025.

Here's What We Know

Apple is seriously engaged in "slimming" iPad Pro. On the agenda - reducing the frames by using display drivers on a special film called CoF (chip-on-film). Now the company is discussing the supply of such components with LG Innotek and in parallel is considering an alternative from LX Semicon.

CoF technology involves mounting drivers on a flexible film using thermal compression. This allows for smaller components and better thermal stability than other approaches - CoG (chip-on-glass) and CoP (chip-on-plastic). The best part: this technology is already familiar to Apple - LG Innotek supplies similar drivers for other devices - but has never yet been used in an iPad Pro with a Tandem OLED display.

Apple is now in the process of choosing between two options: rely entirely on LG's CoF drivers, or combine LG's CoF with LX Semicon's IC display chips. Both solutions are technically compatible, but differ in architecture and integration principle.

Curiously, last year's iPad Pro models were already equipped with Tandem OLED displays, and there used CoG drivers from Samsung Electronics System LSI. But Apple remained dissatisfied with the speed of delivery, which apparently prompted it to look for alternatives. Moreover, the iPhone 15 Pro already used CoF chips from LX Semicon, which means that the technology is quite well-tested and there is confidence in it.

Mass production of components for the new iPad Pro should start in the second half of 2025. So the new "chinless iPad" is not far off.

Source: THE ELEC