TL;DR
- The glowing Apple logo returns to the MacBook Pro after a decade, but it uses a separate light source instead of the display’s backlight.
- Older MacBooks used the LCD backlight to illuminate the logo through a cutout in the lid.
- The new tandem OLED display is thinner, leaving room for a dedicated light source behind the logo that dims and brightens with the screen.
The glowing Apple logo is back on the MacBook Pro with PROLED XDR, a decade after Apple dropped it in 2016 in favor of a thinner design. The logo is illuminated again, but the technology behind it has changed.
Older MacBooks used the LCD backlight to illuminate the logo through an Apple-shaped cutout in the aluminum lid, covered with translucent plastic. As screen brightness changed, the logo brightened or dimmed accordingly.
That approach no longer works with OLED displays, which have no backlight. Each pixel produces its own light, directed toward the viewer. Apple’s new MacBook Pro uses a tandem OLED panel, which stacks two self-emitting layers and is thinner than the previous mini-LED assembly.
The thinner display assembly leaves room for a separate light source and diffuser behind the logo cutout without increasing the lid’s overall thickness. The OLED pixels themselves do not illuminate the logo.
Hands-on reports from the launch indicate that the logo still follows the screen’s brightness settings. It brightens and dims with the display instead of remaining fixed or having an independent brightness control. The behavior is similar to older MacBooks, but the light now comes from a dedicated, low-power source.
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Apple has not explained exactly how the glowing logo works, so this is our assumption based on the most likely implementation. We are also unsure whether Apple will bring this approach to other MacBook models.
Finally, it remains to be seen how the glowing logo will affect battery life, since the separate LED will consume power whenever it is switched on. Hopefully, the power draw is minimal and Apple has accounted for it in its battery testing.
