Apple Watch May Switch to Micro-LED Display in Mid 2017 or Later

[diipii]

Apple may switch to micro-LED displays for the Apple Watch in the second half of 2017 at the earliest, moving away from the current OLED technology used, according to supply chain sources for Taiwanese website DigiTimes.

The timeline suggests that the much-rumored Apple Watch 2 lineup expected to debut in the second half of 2016 will continue to have OLED displays, with the move towards micro-LED panels liking occurring in tandem with the tentatively named Apple Watch 3.

Micro-LED displays can be thinner and lighter and allow for improved color gamut, increased brightness, and higher resolutions. The panels do not require backlighting like traditional LCD displays, but they can be difficult and expensive to mass produce. Micro LEDs range in size from 1-micron to 100-micron.

Earlier this year, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said the Apple Watch 2 will mainly feature internal improvements, with more significant form factor design changes not occurring until 2017. By then, the switch to micro-LED panels and other technological advances could allow for a thinner Apple Watch.

Apple acquired micro-LED display maker LuxVue Technology in 2014, and one of the company's investors at the time said it had "a technical breakthrough in displays." LuxVue holds multiple micro-LED-related patents and, in 2013, it raised $25.2 million in funding to pursue the technology.

Apple also opened a facility in northern Taiwan last year, where it is believed to be focusing on micro-LED technology.

The current Apple Watch is the only Apple product with an OLED display due to its small size. The company continues to use LCD technology based on a TFT manufacturing process for iPhones, but widespread rumors suggest Apple will release its first OLED-based iPhone as early as September 2017.

Article Link: Apple Watch May Switch to Micro-LED Display in Mid 2017 or Later

Hey Apple, do what you like, this is still fan-boy-froth.
Meanwhile the real customers want real computers to do real work or we will walk.

 

[brunosh]

They better make him thinner, it's too bulky right now.

 

[wigby]

So basically you want fragmentation of the products, as well as people having a far less versatile use case than they have currently.

I think they might be assuming Apple will follow their iPod strategy. Remember, at one point there were 4 different iPods all being sold at the same time. They were functionally different and different looking too. So they brought in a lot more customers than they would've otherwise but it did also create some confusion and led to things like the Shuffle.

 

[naeS1Sean]

Funny how everyone talks about Apple's need to switch to OLED, while Apple has what might be a better alternative. Certainly micro-led will be a differentiator until Samsung reads this and decides to start work on copying Apple.

It's no longer like it once was.

 

[ghost187]

It doesn't take research to know Tim is a miser. 16gb flagship iPhone, 5400rpm hard drive in the newest iMac, 5gb iCloud storage, 480p camera on a $1300 MacBook with a $79 adapter for standard ports, and maybe the funniest of them all is the $20 Apple Pencil.... TIP

 

[diipii]

I think you'll find that Apple pays more for its parts than their competition.

Examples or this is just forum-fluff.

 

[Tech198]

"The panels do not require backlighting like traditional LCD displays,"

Finally, An Apple product that is intelligent.. This would mean increased battery life... Unless Apple just builds more senors to use it up..

It was rumored about the GPS, mobile use in Apple watch as well so maybe the battery may not be that great after all

 

[69Mustang]

Could not agree more. Seems a lot of people still spout the reflexive OLED is best mantra.

Yet the recently released 9.7" iPad Pro has a new display which DisplayMate tested and said:
"The display on the iPad Pro 9.7 is a Truly Impressive Top Performing Display and a major upgrade to the display on the iPad Air 2. It is by far the best performing mobile LCD display that we have ever tested, and it breaks many display performance records."

Apple knows what they are doing with respect to display tech.

"Seems a lot of people still spout the reflexive OLED is best mantra." - They may spout that mantra because that's what Displaymate has been saying for the past few years. The iPad and iPhone displays have had to have the special qualifier of best LCD, not best overall.

Either way, the screens today are more than capable of producing excellent color, be it LCD or OLED. Although, it would be nice if Apple gave people a choice of color calibration like Samsung does.

 

[Kedrik]

Perhaps this would allow the watch to be always on. The screen shutting off is an annoyance.

 

[Elijen]

"Micro-LED displays can be thinner and lighter"

*Tim Cook's heavy breathing*

 

[morningsong]

99% of people don't care or wear watches.
The clock on their phone does the job prefectly.

Everyone wants new, more powerful computers.
Where they at?

 

[chinesedemo]

There's still tons of Apple watches to sell at bargain basement prices along with watch bands. Don't expect to see Apple Watch 2 until next spring.

 

[efktd]

Maybe I'll buy like, 60 of these, glue them together, and create my own next-gen thunderbolt display.

 

[sw1tcher]

Could not agree more. Seems a lot of people still spout the reflexive OLED is best mantra.

Yet the recently released 9.7" iPad Pro has a new display which DisplayMate tested and said:
"The display on the iPad Pro 9.7 is a Truly Impressive Top Performing Display and a major upgrade to the display on the iPad Air 2. It is by far the best performing mobile LCD display that we have ever tested, and it breaks many display performance records."

Apple knows what they are doing with respect to display tech.

12.9" iPad Pro not as good as 9.7" iPad Pro though. But good that they're moving in the right direction.

http://www.displaymate.com/iPad_2015_ShootOut_1.htm#Conclusion

iPad Pro

The iPad Pro is a large Tablet, with almost double the screen area of the iPad Air 2, and almost triple the area of the iPad mini 4. Many professional and imaging applications need or can benefit from a large display that you can easily carry around, lay flat on a table, just hold, or rest on your lap. But to qualify as a Professional grade display it needs to provide top image quality and accuracy.

The iPad Pro display performed very well in all of our tests and measurements, earning Very Good to Excellent in all test categories, but it came in or tied for second place in every test except True Contrast Ratio in 0 lux, where it is the definitive winner and marked Best with a record 1,631.

But in two test categories the Pro display was not quite stellar: first, since 2012 all of the iPad and iPhone displays have had near perfect Log-Straight Intensity Scales (something that no other manufacturer has yet been able to match), but on the iPad Pro there is a significant Intensity Scale bump and irregularity at and below 45 percent signal as shown in this Figure, a surprising calibration issue for an Apple display (but still better than most competing Tablets).

Second, in Absolute Color Accuracy the iPad Pro just barely qualified for a Very Good Green rating, just 6 percent from the cutoff, where it has Average/Maximum Color Errors of 2.6 and 6.6 JNCD, much better than the iPad Air 2, but no where near as good as the iPad mini 4, as shown in this Figure. If better Absolute Color Accuracy is important, then for this screen size consider the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 with Average/Maximum Color Errors of 1.9 and 4.1 JNCD – tied with the iPad mini 4 for the most Color Accurate Tablet that we have ever tested.

The displays on the competing iPad Pro and Surface Pro 4 are both Very Good to Excellent in all test categories. The most significant performance differences are the iPad Pro’s much lower Screen Reflectance (2.6 versus 5.6 percent) and the Surface Pro 4’s much better Absolute Color Accuracy (listed above).



http://www.displaymate.com/iPad_Pro9_ShootOut_1.htm

Comparison with the iPad Pro 12.9 Display

The display on the new iPad Pro 9.7 outperforms the iPad Pro 12.9 in every single display performance category except (obviously) size, and then just its Black Luminance, which results in a higher Contrast Ratio in the dark. The iPad Pro 12.9 is still a very good display, it’s just that the iPad Pro 9.7 is so much better than anything else.

 

[timborama]

...Or they may not.

 

[Keane16]

Tim Cook signing off on more expensive components? Please, don't make me laugh.

Yeah like the custom NAND controllers in the 6s, the stepped battery in the Retina MacBook, custom designing SoCs, using 316L aluminium for the Apple Watch - rather than buying off the shelf versions of these.

You need to try harder, you're slipping.

Here's a bit of light reading:

- http://www.anandtech.com/show/9662/iphone-6s-and-iphone-6s-plus-preliminary-results
- http://www.wired.com/2015/03/apples-new-battery-tech/
- http://www.anandtech.com/show/9766/the-apple-ipad-pro-review/2
- https://agmetalminer.com/2015/03/20/316l-stainless-steel-metal-du-jour-apple-watch/

 

[Analog Kid]

The Apple displays seem to be of high quality to me. However, I have seen several other mobile devices with colors that pops. My understanding is that OLED had the better color gamut and that is why most other mobile devices use them. Maybe Apple has been waiting to move to the micro-LED, i don't know, but it would be nice to see some of that pop in an iphone.

The "pop" you're referring to is probably over-saturation. To quote DisplayMate's S7 review:

Highly saturated colors seldom occur in nature so the colors that are outside of the Standard Gamut are seldom needed and are unlikely to be noticed or missed in the overwhelming majority of real images.

Note that current consumer content does not include colors outside of the Standard Gamut, so a display with a wider Color Gamut cannot show colors that are not in the original content, and will only produce inaccurate exaggerated on-screen colors.​

Apple, on the other hand, targets accuracy-- making sure that the image you're looking at will look the same on all displays. Quoting DisplayMate's iPad Pro 9.7" review:

Both of the measured Color Gamuts for the Pad Pro 9.7 are almost exactly on top of the standard sRGB / Rec.709 and DCI-P3 Gamuts, so they are mostly obscured in the figure.​

 

[seatton]

I have had it since the launch day but I keep wishing mine did not look this thick. I hope this rumor is true.

 

[Abazigal]

99% of people don't care or wear watches.
The clock on their phone does the job prefectly.

Everyone wants new, more powerful computers.
Where they at?

I use an iPhone 6S+ and wear a pebble watch. And I am interested in picking up a 2nd gen Apple Watch if one ever does get released.

And I am currently not in the market for a new computer as my iMac and MBA are still working fine for me.

Who should Apple cater to, I wonder...

 

[PlainviewX]

99% of people don't care or wear watches.
The clock on their phone does the job prefectly.

Where did you get this number from?

 

[Analog Kid]

12.9" iPad Pro not as good as 9.7" iPad Pro though. But good that they're moving in the right direction.

Why are you giving extensive quotes about the 12.9" display? It's not newer. It's not closer in size to the watch displays we're discussing. Strangely the S6 display is not as good as the S7 either...

Comparing Apple's latest LCD with Samsung's latest OLED, the LCD outperforms on just about every metric except off axis brightness and contrast in a pitch black room. (Note that if there's virtually any light in the room, iPP wins on contrast, and iPP wins on off axis color accuracy). For those of us who use our devices with the lights on and hand hold our handheld devices, the LCD is a win.

 

[IJ Reilly]

99% of people don't care or wear watches.
The clock on their phone does the job prefectly.

Everyone wants new, more powerful computers.
Where they at?

And this is based on your scientific survey, no doubt. So here's my scientific survey: in two meetings I attended yesterday, everyone was wearing a watch (including one honking big Android watch that made my Apple Watch look dainty). According to my scientific survey, you probably need to get out more often.

 

[Analog Kid]

Where did you get this number from?

He's one of the 86% of people that just make up statistics.

 

[IJ Reilly]

He's one of the 86% of people that just make up statistics.

Did you know that half of all people are below average?

I just love statistics, don't you?

 

[username:]

*LEAK*

Apple exec spotted at Apple HQ testing what looks to be the yet to be released Apple Shoe!!
Details on specs are limited, but we can say it is a shoe-like device and likely to be "even more personal that the Apple Watch."



An old patent outlines how the Apple Shoe can detect when it is wearing our and notify the wearer to buy new shoes. Supply chain manufacturers are rumoured to be producing a special micro leather technology that gives a higher shine and more accurate leather feel and tone.