Custom MicroLED Displays Could Be Heading to the iPhone, Vision Pro, and Apple Car

[obviouslogic]

Apple is believed to have spent more than six years developing microLED technology for what will become the first display custom-designed by the company itself, mirroring its work on Apple silicon. Apple reportedly kicked off the current form of its microLED project, codenamed T159, around 2017.

6 years!? Apple bought LuxVue in 2014. That's nearly 10 years ago...

TechCrunch: Apple Acquires LuxVue

 

[Skyscraperfan]

How would Apple secretly develop a car? A car needs huge factories and thousands of workers. Keeping that a secret will be a huge challenge for Apple. The only way I see is that they already have a deal with one of the very large manufacturers that already produces millions of cars per year.

 

[1369281]

If Apple uses PWM in these MicroLED displays, I'll have no choice but to switch to a different phone provider. My iPhone SE should last until these are released.

 

[120FPS]

The funny thing about MicroLED is that 99% of people think this technology has already existed for 20+ years.

(i.e., a bunch of small pixels that emit light.)

No doubt Apple will rebrand it to something else to clarify that it’s a big advance in technology.

 

[nylonsteel]

"...Apple's long-term plan is to bring microLED displays to all of its key products, but it could be a decade before it emerges..."
I'm not getting any younger
I wish I could add a decade to my life

 

[staypuftforums]

They're talking 2026 rumors now? 😂

Let us enjoy the iPhone 15 and USB-C for now.

People saying 3 years is a long time must be very young.

 

[Biofreak12]

OLED > microLED

 

[ghanwani]

OLED > microLED

Where does AMOLED fit in?

 

[Tagbert]

Where does AMOLED fit in?

It is a particular kind of OLED. The “A” stands for active matrix.

 

[staypuftforums]

OLED > microLED

Bruh.

 

[svish]

Will take a long time for all the different products to completely switch to microLED

 

[Gengar]

People saying 3 years is a long time must be very young.

I’m 31

 

[Philip_S]

Did I miss something here? The article says nothing about Apple Car, other than the headline.

Maybe it’s an estimate of the timeline, like references to Duke Nukem Forever used to be.

 

[DarthDon]

Heard it was coming to the Apple Spaceship as well

I was hoping for a apple submarine ultra...

 

[DarthDon]

An iPhone or iPad with microLED screen would be an insta-buy for me, but it’s a bit disappointing that it’s still too far away in time.

If the first device to come with micro-LED is the Apple Watch Ultra in 2026, then I guess we could estimate that the first iPhone (pro, of course) with micro-LED could come in 2027 at the earliest, and in 2029 as a reasonable timeframe. Give it four more years at least to reach the iPad, and we could have those devices with micro-LED in ten years from now. I’m not sure my M2 iPad Pro will last so long 😆

I wish this could go faster, I’m not a fan of OLED.

So - Iphone 15 will last until 6G comes around.

 

[Eric5h5]

How would Apple secretly develop a car? A car needs huge factories and thousands of workers.

That's only when you're done developing it and are actually producing it. Developing it can be done with just dozens of people and no factories (huge or otherwise).

OLED > microLED

Only in the sense that it actually exists in consumer products right now. Otherwise it's technologically inferior.

 

[ThomasJL]

Before we get more bells and whistles (which are nice, of course), can we please get Touch ID back? Touch ID exists on current iPads and current Macs. It doesn't have to replace Face ID. Surely Apple is capable of including both and giving users a choice in what they want to use.

 

[Tenkaykev]

How would Apple secretly develop a car? A car needs huge factories and thousands of workers. Keeping that a secret will be a huge challenge for Apple. The only way I see is that they already have a deal with one of the very large manufacturers that already produces millions of cars per year.

Not necessarily, they might combine a Vision Pro headset that superimposes the features of a supercar over any old clunker 🤔😉

 

[shpankey]

I really could not care less about the display quality on my watch. Will be excited when it comes to iPhone.

Quality I agree with but these are much brighter than OLED and more energy efficient which are 2 pretty great things even for a watch. Direct sunlight viewing and battery life.

 

[Philip_S]

If Apple uses PWM in these MicroLED displays, I'll have no choice but to switch to a different phone provider. My iPhone SE should last until these are released.

I’m fairly sure they will use PWM because that’s more power efficient (and thus better thermally) than operating the switching in linear mode to operate the LEDs at partial current for dimming. However, small direct emission p-n junction LEDs respond faster to switching on than OLED (phosphorescent LEDs tend to be very slow by comparison, which is why they weren’t used for displays), so they could drive the PWM faster.

OTOH, for me the speed on my current phone is fine most of the time, so I’d lean towards preferring them to save power by keeping the switching frequency low, especially for the always-on watch screen.

 

[Shirasaki]

got a fright there, thought it was MiniLED (which is trash).

looking forward to MicroLED because it should be better than OLED.

As long as it uses PWM, it’s still the same bad LED for people with sensitivity.

Heh, looking forward to the day the Apple Car becomes vintage without any repair possibilities. Replacing the Display with a third party one shuts off the car. But this won’t be an Apple only issue.

Babying my current combustion car, and hope it lasts till i drop dead.

Or government mandates environmental standards that your combustion car will not satisfy, forcing their obsolete status Whether it is in good working condition Or not. If car companies can lobby US government to completely abandon public transport, they can lobby them again to force premature phase out of gas car.

it takes $10B to launch a car. It takes $15B to make it profitable.

Last time I heard Apple was a $3T company. $25B should be pocket change for them.

Exciting. OLED is already so good though it’s hard to imagine anything better.

By mandating DC dimming instead of PWM dimming, microLED can be better than OLED.

 

[Shirasaki]

"...Apple's long-term plan is to bring microLED displays to all of its key products, but it could be a decade before it emerges..."
I'm not getting any younger
I wish I could add a decade to my life

By then I would be too old to enjoy the benefit of microLED anyways.

 

[Shirasaki]

I was hoping for a apple submarine ultra...

How about Apple earth?

 

[Eriamjh1138@DAN]

Last time I heard Apple was a $3T company. $25B should be pocket change for them.

It’s a good thing you’re not in charge of spending their money. They don’t just throw billions at the wall foolishly And see what sticks.

if it was so easy, why hasn’t it happened?

 

[Kevin2055]

Early production operations for Apple's custom microLED displays indicate that the technology is headed to a broad range of products, including headsets, iPhones, and automotive applications, Taiwanese research firm TrendForce reports.

TrendForce also repeated their claim from last month that Apple's first microLED display will launch on a new Apple Watch Ultra model in 2026, rather than 2025, due to supply chain adjustments. The microLED display is expected to be 2.12-inches in size, a 10% increase over the display of the current Apple Watch Ultra.

In January, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported Apple is likely planning to bring custom microLED displays to the iPhone, iPad, and Mac after the technology debuts in a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra. He believes Apple's long-term plan is to bring microLED displays to all of its key products, but it could be a decade before it emerges in the Mac owing to the complexity of the technology at this early stage. For comparison, Gurman noted that the iPhone will have had OLED displays for over six years by the time they are expected to come to the iPad. Other reports from DigiTimes, Nikkei Asia, and The Information have indicated similar plans for Apple to transition to custom microLED displays across multiple product lines in an effort to become less reliant on Samsung.

Apple is believed to have spent more than six years developing microLED technology for what will become the first display custom-designed by the company itself, mirroring its work on Apple silicon. Apple reportedly kicked off the current form of its microLED project, codenamed T159, around 2017. At an earlier stage, it even wanted to introduce the technology with the iPhone X. The advanced display offers improved brightness, color reproduction, and viewing angles, making images look more like they are "painted" atop the display glass, and replace parts currently supplied by companies like Samsung and LG.

Article Link: Custom MicroLED Displays Could Be Heading to the iPhone, Vision Pro, and Apple Car

I thought we will have OLED TV first