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American tech giant, Apple, recently unveiled its latest plan to replace the displays on its mobile devices with its in-house screen technology. The company stated that the new development came about from its commitment to improving the performance, power efficiency and longevity of its devices.
According to Bloomberg, the tech giant will begin this transition as soon as next year, starting with its highest-end Apple Watches in late 2024. These watches currently use OLED screens, which will be replaced by Apple's microLED technology.
MicroLED is a relatively new and highly promising display technology that offers many advantages over traditional OLED panels. It provides deep blacks, great contrast, better power efficiency, higher brightness output and most importantly, its pixels won't degrade over time.
Additionally, this new display is brighter, with more vibrant colours, making it appear as if watch faces and other contents are painted on top of the glass. It also has far better viewing angles than traditional OLED displays.
Despite the delay and the potential for future delays, the technology is reportedly one of the company's most critical projects. Apple has invested several billion dollars in the development of its microLED technology and is already testing it on an update to the Apple Watch Ultra.
While the company will not be manufacturing these displays, it will still rely on companies like Samsung and LG for the actual panels. However, the designs for the next-generation panels will be custom tailored to Apple's exact specifications, which is similar to what it did with its mobile and desktop chipsets. Currently, Apple relies on TSMC to manufacture the chips but the design process is carried out in-house by the iPhone creator. This move will significantly impact Apple's current suppliers, but it is in line with Apple's plans to improve its devices' performance, power efficiency and longevity.