Apple to Mass Produce Its Own MicroLED Displays for iPhones

[MacRumors]

Apple will mass produce its own microLED displays in order to lessen its reliance on Samsung and increase its own control over supply, laying the groundwork to realize its ultimate goal of bringing the technology to iPhones, reports Nikkei Asia.

According to the outlet's sources, Apple has spent at least $1 billion on microLED research and development over past decade, and once production starts, Apple will itself perform the critical "mass transfer" step of the manufacturing process, which involves placing at least tens of thousands of tiny microLED chips onto substrates.

Apple plans to fabricate the tiny microLED chips directly on wafers, and will partner with ams-Osram for the microLED components, LG Display for the substrates, and TSMC for 12-inch wafers. This process will reportedly be carried out at Apple's secretive R&D facilities in the Longtan District in the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan.

Apple has R&D teams working on the displays in the U.S., Taiwan and Japan, and is said to have designed not only the driver integrated circuits for the microLED screens, but also some of the production equipment itself to better control the mass transfer process, allowing it to eventually adopt the display technology in products that traditionally use OLED panels supplied by Samsung and other suppliers.

Despite Apple's groundwork, microLED display production remains challenging and manufacturing costs are higher, which is why Apple will start rolling out the technology with the Apple Watch Ultra before ultimately mass producing microLED displays for iPhones.

"Apple's ultimate plan is to introduce the technologies on its iPhone, which is its key revenue source and has much bigger volume, to justify the investments over the years," said one of the sources who has seen samples of the company's microLED screen.

The display technology would allow for higher brightness, decreased power consumption, improved contrast ratio, and other benefits compared to current iPhones with OLED displays.

With the Apple Watch Ultra not expected to use microLED until 2025, the first iPhone to adopt the technology is likely still several years away from launching. All four iPhone 15 models coming later this year are expected to feature OLED displays.

Article Link: Apple to Mass Produce Its Own MicroLED Displays for iPhones

 

[DeLaSoul]

It should be rollable so you can transform from a pen shaped phone to a tablet so you can read the latest tweets out loud like a medieval herald 😄

 

[kiranmk2]

Given the $billions Samsung and the like have invested into microLED manufacturing research, good luck with that Apple.

Would love to see it happen (and it likely will happen) but can't see it for at least 4-5 years.

 

[lysingur]

How's that 5G modem coming along, Apple?

It seems Apple is always years away from finally producing some components in-house, but then never does.

 

[gpat]

I don't believe this even for a second.

 

[mcilwraith]

I thought OLED was the best? now back to mini LED??

 

[gpat]

I thought OLED was the best? now back to mini LED??

MicroLED is not miniLED, it's the next evolutionary step and still not on any of Apple's products

 

[jimmy_uk]

I thought OLED was the best? now back to mini LED??

OLED is a stop-gap until a MiniLED*

*Edit - meant to say "MicroLED"

 

[symphony]

2302 Apple iPhone will be 100% in-house

 

[diddl14]

"be carried out at Apple's secretive R&D facilities in the Longtan District "

Wonder what makes this R&D facility classify as 'secretive' compared to any other Apple R&D facility? 🤔

 

[mystery hill]

OLED is a stop-gap until a MiniLED.

Until microLED

 

[MayaUser]

microLED..lets hope we will get this in our lifetimes

 

[Parzival]

Will this end their usage of the awfulness that is PWM?

 

[MarcoPohlo]

Not sure if it's wise to have the most advanced secretive lab in Taiwan...

 

[MarcoPohlo]

2302 Apple iPhone will be 100% in-house

Built entirely out of Apple's reach in third world countries..

 

[thegerman]

Please no, only OLED give us true blacks and saves battery life. Blooming is also a big problem

 

[Bodhitree]

Not miniLED but microLED… I must admit I’m not up on the latest display technologies. But it seems to me you must have some consumer-relevant feature in mind, like a screen with deeper blacks and higher local brightness. Are we really going to be able to tell the difference between two-layer OLED and these ever-better display technologies? I can just about see the difference between IPS and OLED but I have some doubts about how much these things are going to differentiate in future.

 

[orbital~debris]

Let's hope the future AI dictators of Earth stick to brunching on "substrates" and "wafers".

 

[MayaUser]

Please no, only OLED give us true blacks and saves battery life. Blooming is also a big problem

here is about microLED....read carefully...some users already said this...come on

 

[klasma]

It should be rollable so you can transform from a pen shaped phone to a tablet so you can read the latest tweets out loud like a medieval herald 😄

I think that’s called heraLED.

 

[ErneX]

Please no, only OLED give us true blacks and saves battery life. Blooming is also a big problem

You probably confused this with miniLED. microLED is supposed to have all the benefits of OLED minus its degradation.

 

[klasma]

(X) Doubt

It will certainly be interesting to see how this pans out.

 

[klasma]

2302 Apple iPhone will be 100% in-house

It will be 100% in-brain.

 

[klasma]

"be carried out at Apple's secretive R&D facilities in the Longtan District "

Wonder what makes this R&D facility classify as 'secretive' compared to any other Apple R&D facility? 🤔

There haven’t been any leaks out of it yet.

 

[klasma]

Will this end their usage of the awfulness that is PWM?

MicroLED will very likely still employ PWM. This is because controlling brightness by analog current level induces color shift in microLEDs, so PWM of a constant current level is the more practical solution (or maybe the only practical solution).