Rumor: LG to be exclusive OLED supplier for second-gen Apple Watch

Posted:
in Apple Watch edited June 2015
A report out of South Korea on Friday claims Apple tapped current Apple Watch plastic OLED supplier LG Display to handle panel production for a second-generation model, which could see release next year.




Apple originally considered going with multiple suppliers, a foreign official told MK, but ultimately chose LG as an exclusive partner due to the firm's superior product quality and manufacturing prowess.

To avoid production delays, Apple prefers to divvy up component orders between multiple suppliers. This not only improves manufacturing times, but offers a fallback in case one firm runs into unforeseen problems. Apple can also theoretically leverage competition to keep costs down.

It should be noted that MK lacks an established track record with Apple news. The rumor, one of the first concerning a next-gen Apple Watch, makes sense insofar as LG's existing ties with Apple. The South Korean company is a major display supplier for various iPad, MacBook and iMac models.

Apple most recently announced developer availability of watchOS 2 at this year's WWDC. The update will arrive this fall to add features like native app support, third-party complications, Nightstand mode, a "Time Travel" feature and more.
«1

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 24
    fallenjtfallenjt Posts: 4,053member

    Nothing for Samsung. Good.

  • Reply 2 of 24

    I wonder if we'll see it in March, or if they'll wait until Sept/Oct?

  • Reply 3 of 24
    jason98jason98 Posts: 768member



    Regardless of when Watch 2 is coming, I will wait until they figure out how to put more useful health sensors in it, like measure blood sugar level, and then will buy one for my mom first :)  Until that I find it is useless.

  • Reply 4 of 24
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    Danm! Already talking about gen 2 ?Watch, let me enjoy my gen 1 for a while first
  • Reply 5 of 24
    boozerboozer Posts: 19member

    I just cancelled my order, space black with matching black link bracelet. I went to an Apple store to try one on and realized I could not imagine myself wearing this big thing all day. I found it heavy and thought too much overlap with my iPhone. I ordered on April 20th and it was expected to ship July 7th. 

  • Reply 6 of 24
    sockrolidsockrolid Posts: 2,789member

    Good for LG.  Now, when will iPhone and iPad get OLED screens?

    Could help with better battery life and/or thinness + lightness.

  • Reply 7 of 24
    jimdreamworxjimdreamworx Posts: 1,095member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by idrey View Post



    Danm! Already talking about gen 2 ?Watch, let me enjoy my gen 1 for a while first

     

    I'm disappointed and concerned that - with rumors abounding about iPhone 8 - I haven't seen rumors for the third gen Watch.

  • Reply 8 of 24
    The Gen 2 watch will likely debut in September 2016. I will likely upgrade my Gen 1 at that time. My guess is the Gen 1 resell value will be quite good.
  • Reply 9 of 24
    idreyidrey Posts: 647member
    I'm disappointed and concerned that - with rumors abounding about iPhone 8 - I haven't seen rumors for the third gen Watch.

    iPhone 8 rumors? Danm let me enjoy the iPhone 6s/6s plus rumors! Moving too fast people, moving too fast. :)
  • Reply 10 of 24
    pfisherpfisher Posts: 758member

    Wow, wonder what percentage of people will upgrade to the new watch. 

  • Reply 11 of 24
    flaneurflaneur Posts: 4,526member
    sockrolid wrote: »
    Good for LG.  Now, when will iPhone and iPad get OLED screens?
    Could help with better battery life and/or thinness + lightness.

    I'd imagine Apple has test screens running 24 hours a day for years by now, testing longevity of various generations of emitter compounds. If any prove worthy, then they have to work with fabs to build out capacity to quantities never approached before, even by Samsung, correct? I suspect we are still years away, but that's only because we have heard nothing to compare with the details we've heard about various LCD technologies.

    There are good reasons Apple has stuck with LCD up to now, of that i'm sure.
  • Reply 12 of 24
    nolamacguynolamacguy Posts: 4,758member
    jason98 wrote: »

    Regardless of when Watch 2 is coming, I will wait until they figure out how to put more useful health sensors in it, like measure blood sugar level, and then will buy one for my mom first :)  Until that I find it is useless.

    thank god the millions of us who got one and find value in it aren't you.
  • Reply 13 of 24
    bluefire1bluefire1 Posts: 1,301member
    I just hope that the bands that fit the current apple watch will also fit on the second generation version.
  • Reply 14 of 24
    ksecksec Posts: 1,569member

    That is interesting, I thought the Watch will have a much longer upgrade cycle. The SoC inside Apple Watch is still based on ARMv7, the same 32bit chip could have been a ARMv8 32bit. Making the software transition much easier.

     

    And What happen to those spends 10K+ only to have a watch outdated?

     

    Next Year also marks new design of iPhone 7, which is strange for Apple to release TWO significant product in the same year.

  • Reply 15 of 24
    I'm disappointed and concerned that - with rumors abounding about iPhone 8 - I haven't seen rumors for the third gen Watch.

    Skylake: It's the real reason nobody upgraded to Broadwell.
  • Reply 16 of 24
    The Gen 2 watch will likely debut in September 2016. I will likely upgrade my Gen 1 at that time. My guess is the Gen 1 resell value will be quite good.

    As long as ridiculously growing screen sizes become the next horse race, I'm keeping my first gen 42mm SPORT. It's the right size, something nobody cares about anymore.
  • Reply 17 of 24
    slurpyslurpy Posts: 5,382member
    ksec wrote: »
    That is interesting, I thought the Watch will have a much longer upgrade cycle. The SoC inside Apple Watch is still based on ARMv7, the same 32bit chip could have been a ARMv8 32bit. Making the software transition much easier.

    And What happen to those spends 10K+ only to have a watch outdated?

    Next Year also marks new design of iPhone 7, which is strange for Apple to release TWO significant product in the same year.

    And what the hell is the problem with that? Those that spent 10K+ CHOSE to do so KNOWING the watch is obviously going to be updated. Apple does not need to cater their releas schedule around that tiny percentage of people that probably won't give a shit anyway.
  • Reply 18 of 24
    Like a whole lt of Apple stuff, it reads as '2 + 2 = News'.

    They simply don't need many OLED screens, the sales market being limited.
  • Reply 19 of 24
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Slurpy View Post





    And what the hell is the problem with that? Those that spent 10K+ CHOSE to do so KNOWING the watch is obviously going to be updated. Apple does not need to cater their releas schedule around that tiny percentage of people that probably won't give a shit anyway.



    Nobody knows Apple's update schedule ... maybe they'll follow something closer to the Apple TV update pattern :-)

     

    Seriously, though, I think Apple will be carefully managing the update process. People who spend $1K or so on a watch don't typically think of it as disposable, but rather as an investment. And Apple is targeting  that crowd to some extent. So while it's clear an Apple Watch is never going to be something you pass on to your grandkids, I'd be surprised by anything faster than a 2 year refresh rate.

     

    One alternative might be 1 or even 2 (annual) refresh cycles with very minimal external updates, so at least people don't feel their watch "looks" dated within a year.  But I don't think we'll see the watch in lock-step with the iPhone/iPad releases.

     

    Regardless, the update cycle will I think play a big role in determining the Watch's perception as a "quality, enduring, luxury" product (like a Swiss watch), or rather as a tech gadget where each iteration is seen as outdated, after 1-2 years (like the iPhone). The latter might be ok, but then you're not going to sell many of the stainless (and gold) models. I suspect Apple will be targeting some intermediate position, however.

  • Reply 20 of 24
    MacProMacPro Posts: 19,718member
    fallenjt wrote: »
    Nothing for Samsung. Good.

    My first thought but usually such stories end up not being entirely accurate and Scammy still gets plenty of Apple business, sadly.
Sign In or Register to comment.