Apple’s desire to focus production of key components in-house seems to know no bounds. In addition to semiconductor chips, the American giant will develop displays for mobile devices itself and, as part of separate modifications to its smartwatches, will replace the corresponding components from Samsung and LG with them starting next year.
Image source: Apple
This has traditionally been reported by the agency Bloomberg with reference to informed sources. Older Apple Watch models are slated to start transitioning to in-house microLED displays late next year, though they now rely on third-party OLED displays. Displays with your own design will also be registered in other Apple devices, including the iPhone.
Information about Apple’s intentions to introduce displays with its own design in smartwatches first appeared in 2018. So far, the display suppliers for the Apple Watch have been South Korean giants Samsung Display and LG Display. According to reports, own microLED displays are to be tested for the first time on the Apple Watch Ultra. The new manufacturing technology will increase the brightness and improve the color reproduction of the smartwatch display, especially when viewed from an angle. Subjectively, the image on this type of display appears as if painted over glass.
In general, Apple gets different types of displays from Japan Display, Sharp, and BOE Technology, not to mention LG and Samsung. Officials from the latter two companies declined to comment on Bloomberg’s release. Apple originally expected to use microLED displays in large-screen devices as early as 2020, but encountered technical difficulties and decided to experiment with compact-sized displays like those used in smartwatches. It’s possible that shipments of Apple wearables with a new type of display won’t begin until 2025 at the earliest. Mass production of microLED displays has to be done by a third party, although Apple develops them independently.
Apple’s mixed reality device, which could launch this fall, will also use a new type of display similar in manufacturing technology to microLED. It will take a few more years to carry the iPhone line over to them, but next year OLED displays will be registered as part of the iPad Pro tablets. The foundation for the profile development was laid back in 2014 when Apple acquired MicroLED display developer LuxVue.
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