MicroLED displays coming your way

Apple Watch. © iStock.

Apple is close to signing a deal with Taiwanese manufacturers to start using microLED displays in its products as early as next year, according to Chinese newspaper Economic Daily News. According to sources in Apple’s supply chain, the company is set to launch a watch with a microLED display in 2020, replacing LG’s OLED displays. MicroLED displays use different, smaller electroluminescent compounds, which should make future devices thinner, lighter, brighter and more energy-efficient. A previous DigiTimes rumour suggested that Apple was working with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), which is already manufacturing Apple chips, including the new SoC A13, to develop microLED panels for Apple Watch. These panels probably use technologies and patents that Apple acquired in 2014 with the purchase of LuxVue, a California company specializing in microLED displays. MicroLED displays offer a combination of brightness and energy efficiency that LCD and OLED technologies just can’t match. MicroLED displays will also be coming soon to a VR/AR headset near you, for example the Oculus.

⇨ AppleInsider, “Apple considering MicroLED display for 2020 Apple Watch.”