Apple to Mass Produce Its Own MicroLED Displays for iPhones

[5105973]

You do know that the Taiwanese are not big fans of the mainland.

They’re not, but the political tensions between China and the US and other countries over Taiwan is often dangerously high.

 

[CWallace]

Apple should stop marketing the Ultra watch as a premium product to the regular 41/45mm watches. It’s impractically huge for most users. There’s a good chunk of potential customers that would pay the premium, were it not for the prohibitively large form factor. They would have better results with putting premium features like MicroLED on the Stainless models.

It makes sense from a marketing angle to have microLED displays appear first on the Apple Watch Ultra since it is the "best" model in the lineup. But I do agree with you that moving it to the Stainless Steel models of the "regular" watch first could be a prudent move since it has the built-in margin to absorb any higher costs and then once those costs comes down, it can migrate to the aluminum models.

This will be interesting. Apple currently designs its own OLED displays which are then manufactured by Samsung to Apple specifications. They are likely not entirely happy with that arrangement and feel they can eventually shorten the design to manufacture process, and save money in the process.

I also could see Apple not being happy with Samsung Display learning how to improve the quality of the displays they make available to other customers - including Samsung Electronics. When the iPhone X launched, it's display was generally considered (and tested as) better than what was in the equivalent Galaxy family. Over time, however, the Galaxy's display closed that "quality gap" and the most logical reason for this is Samsung Display improved their entire lineup by drawing on what they learned from making iPhone displays.

 

[Realityck]

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.

As much as some view microLED as superior to current OLED technology it remains to be seen it’s as cost effective to utilize for watch usage.

 

[b0fh]

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.

Exactly!! We all remember how well those in-house designed ARM processors worked...

oh wait...

 

[Quicksilver867]

2302 Apple iPhone will be 100% in-house

I hope to be around for this one

 

[1369281]

If they use PWM for these displays, like they do in their OLED displays, I can confidently say I will no longer buy iPhones.

 

[Victor Mortimer]

Uh huh. Sure they will. Apple doesn't build ANYTHING. Last I heard the Cork facility was doing some final assembly on custom-config Europe-market iMacs, but I'm not sure if they're still doing that. And the Cork facility is Apple's ONLY 'manufacturing' facility anywhere in the world. The supposed 'Apple' factory in Texass is actually Flextronics, not Apple.

 

[smulji]

OLED is a stop-gap until a MiniLED.

The current iPad Pro and MBP already use MiniLED. OLED is a stop-gap for MicroLED

 

[coolfactor]

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

MicroLED is superior to OLED and MiniLED. Each pixel is independently controlled. The electronics are -so- small, that manufacturing is much more difficult.

 

[lysingur]

Exactly!! We all remember how well those in-house designed ARM processors worked...

oh wait...

Apple Silicon worked so well that Mac Pro is still on Intel... 😂😂😂

 

[lysingur]

Apple’s new custom 5G modem will be in 2024 iPhone SE, so we will see how that goes, potentially more delays. I wish Apple had invested in there own cell phone network, they would have been able to control the quality much better 📱 🛰️

Apple will be all Qualcomm till at least 2025 based on the latest rumours. Some even said it's been "stalled" and an Apple modem in iPhone is still "two generations away."

I wouldn't hold my breath if I were you, especially given 2023/2024 is going to be all AR headset

 

[Tagbert]

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.

Apple has been investing billions in developing microLEDs for about 9 years.

Apple Acquires Power Efficient LED Tech Company LuxVue | TechCrunch

Apple has acquired LuxVue Technology, a stealthy company that had been working on micro-LED, screen technologies, we've heard from sources close to the transaction. The company had raised $43 million in funding from Kleiner Perkins, iD Ventures America and others. Apple has given us a statement...

techcrunch.com

 

[Tagbert]

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

Time to read up on the differences between miniLED and microLED.

Mini-LED vs MicroLED - What Is The Difference? [Simple Guide]

MicroLED is the next generation of display technology whereas Mini-LED improves upon the existing LCD displays.

www.displayninja.com

 

[svish]

Good to hear about this. But an iPhone with microLED display will not be released anytime soon.

 

[jimmy_uk]

OLED is a stop-gap until a MiniLED.

Egg on my face - meant to say "MicroLED"

 

[FasterQuieter]

I wonder if MicroLED will be as colorful as the new QD OLED displays.

 

[_Spinn_]

I’m very excited to see microLED screens roll out everywhere. It is years away however.