Apple considering micro LED display for 2020 Apple Watch
Following years of development with different suppliers, Apple is reportedly close to switching Apple Watch display from OLED to micro LED, and production is expected to begin in time for a fall 2020 launch.
The current Apple Watch Series 4
According to sources in the supply chain, Apple is close to signing a deal with two Taiwanese manufacturers for Apple Watch micro LED displays in 2020. If correct, the move is the culmination of several years of Apple attempting to replace the current OLED displays.
The two manufacturers are believed to be Yu Chuang, which develops micro LED processors, and Sui Bao, which assembles displays. These two companies recently collaborated on microLED products for Samsung which are also expected to be released in 2020.
Yu Chuang would not comment, but Sui Bao told Economic Daily News that its production line is ready and that it is in discussions with what is described as the US smart watch industry.
Despite that, Economic Daily News says that it will take nine months to have that line mass-produce items, and that Sui Bao is not likely to start preparations until later this year. That would see micro LED Apple Watch displays being released around the fall of 2020.
If correct, that would make it six years since Apple was first revealed to be looking into micro LED displays for Apple Watch.
Apple acquired micro LED specialist LuxVue for this back in 2014. Then in 2017, the company was reported to be doing this in order to benefit from the lower power consumption of micro LED, but it quickly appeared to abandon its discussions with Taiwanese firms due to a lack of progress.
While apparently then doing more research in the US, Apple did reach back out to Taiwanese firms with it reportedly being close to signing a deal with PlayNitride in April 2018 and then meeting with other firms in August of that year too.
The current Apple Watch Series 4
According to sources in the supply chain, Apple is close to signing a deal with two Taiwanese manufacturers for Apple Watch micro LED displays in 2020. If correct, the move is the culmination of several years of Apple attempting to replace the current OLED displays.
The two manufacturers are believed to be Yu Chuang, which develops micro LED processors, and Sui Bao, which assembles displays. These two companies recently collaborated on microLED products for Samsung which are also expected to be released in 2020.
Yu Chuang would not comment, but Sui Bao told Economic Daily News that its production line is ready and that it is in discussions with what is described as the US smart watch industry.
Despite that, Economic Daily News says that it will take nine months to have that line mass-produce items, and that Sui Bao is not likely to start preparations until later this year. That would see micro LED Apple Watch displays being released around the fall of 2020.
If correct, that would make it six years since Apple was first revealed to be looking into micro LED displays for Apple Watch.
Apple acquired micro LED specialist LuxVue for this back in 2014. Then in 2017, the company was reported to be doing this in order to benefit from the lower power consumption of micro LED, but it quickly appeared to abandon its discussions with Taiwanese firms due to a lack of progress.
While apparently then doing more research in the US, Apple did reach back out to Taiwanese firms with it reportedly being close to signing a deal with PlayNitride in April 2018 and then meeting with other firms in August of that year too.
Comments
2017- mLED possibly coming to Apple Watch in 2018 https://www.macrumors.com/2017/06/07/apple-watch-track-micro-led-2018/
2018- mLED possibly coming to Apple Watch in 2019 https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/04/03/apple-and-tsmc-could-start-apple-watch-microled-display-mass-production-later-this-year
2019- mLED possibly coming to Apple Watch in 2020 - this article.
Erbody just guessin'. Eventually someone will be right... unless mLED turns out to be not viable like AirPower or mass production of sapphire glass screens. My personal guess is this will be true mid 2022-2023 for the Apple Watch. Late 2021-Early 2022 for Oppo, Xiaomi, or another of the Chinese brands. Early 2022-2023 for Samsung. Look at that... I am an analyst.
Somewhat relatedly.... if the stories about the AR glasses being delayed are true, I wonder if it's because of delays with mLED. I'm guessing the critical enabling technologies of AR Glasses are (1) SOC fabrication technology, (2) mLED, and (3?) solid state battery.
TSMC is doing their part -- sounds like 5nm is on target. So it's the other two that represent the big unknowns.
it makes sense, though, that the watch would be the proving ground for mLED and solid state battery. The year we see an Apple watch with those technologies is possibly the year before we see AR glasses.
Instead of me trying to convince you, how about we let you convince you. Present your idea where mLED would be used in AR glasses. Very quickly you'll realize you'll be describing a VR headset.
Examples. Google glasses, all projection headsets and HUDs etc. you can’t see through the pixel that has information instead you lose the visual data behind it. Like in fighter jets. But like driving past along chain fence, you can see behind it, but if you stop you can see the fence blocking the way in some parts. Eye are constantly making micro movements and the data from your left eye will be combined with your right in your brain so, I guess it is fully transparent, in a sense, even if when off you can see microscopic black lumps in the glass.
This is all assuming you can make a grid out of mLEDs rather than having them on a film that’s uniform with visual properties.
Edit:1) reminds me that we all have already two blinds spots. One per eye, that you can only notice when you have uniform paper with a different color spot. And in right place the paper seems uniform without the spot, because brains are weird.
2) typo mled vs mLED
3) but still, VR headsets are capable of AR just like iPhone AR, but surely they aren’t AR headsets, as you said.
2. Examples: Every example you listed has a substrate that is either transparent or translucent allowing the viewer to see through it. Arguing that you can't see through the pixels of the image is irrelevant since the substrate (what the image is projected on) is what the discussion is about... not the image.
3. VR headsets that have a camera are capable of Mixed Reality (MR) not AR. Pedantic, I know. MR is what the iPhone is doing as well, but that's also being pedantic and derailing the topic of the mLED substrate. Point being. Apple's AR glasses would not be hindered by anything going on with mLED, which was supposition of blastdoor. AR glasses don't need mLED.
Phase shifting molecules?... You’re just mushing up terms in order to seem smart. Color shifting individual cells? Like LCDs?
2. If you want information on the screen the image is of importance. I guess you missed the whole idea of the grid. You can’t see through the mLED pixels, but loosely enough you can see between them. So it just blocks some of the photons in the way. Of course they’d be on a transparent film or in a glass pane, not on thin air..
3. Sure agreed, they don’t need mLED. But you asked an idea where they’d be used in AR glasses.