Foxconn is probably ramping up their capabilities to manufacture mLED with the hopes of producing whatever Apple comes up with from their LuxVue purchase. Apple isn't going to be manufacturing mLED. They'll contract it out. Foxconn wants some of that.
Like any physical material, making something thinner would be more flexible. In this case, a display is more susceptible to external and physical forces. Look at some of the phones you may have come across and see damaged display screens whether it was dropped, sat on, etc. As for using on watch, I know I have accidentally bang my watch and caused scratches so imagine if I was wearing an AW so who knows what that outcome would be. As stated in the article, it would be thinner and I am mindful of the durability even if the difference in thickness is small. With the cost of phones rising, I certainly want to hold to my phone longer and not having to replace sooner than I would want to.
Thats... only part of the display. Definitely not the phone itself
Nope I spoke to Tim just moments ago. He is well.Thats... only part of the display. Definitely not the phone itself
it was. Future is funny that way. It leaves everything else in the past.
So the main point is that Samsung will do it first.
Foxconn is broadening investment in MicroLED display technology in a bid to win orders from Apple for future iPhones, according to a report from the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes).
MicroLED is widely considered to be Apple's next step after OLED, which it currently uses for the Apple Watch and iPhone XS. MicroLED displays have many of the same advantages that OLED displays have over LCDs, including improved color accuracy, improved contrast ratio, faster response times, and true blacks - given both have self-lit pixels.
However MicroLED displays are thinner, brighter, and more energy efficient than OLED panels. MicroLED displays also have inorganic gallium nitride-based LEDs, which have a longer lifespan than the organic compound used in OLED displays and should make them more resistant to burn-in issues.
Apple's interest in MicroLED was first reported in 2014, when it acquired MicroLED display maker LuxVue. The following year it was discovered that the iPhone maker had also opened a secretive laboratory in Taoyuan, Taiwan to research display technologies like OLED and MicroLED for future devices.
In 2017, the company reportedly scaled back its efforts at that center, possibly switching to a facility closer to home: Apple is believed to have a secretive manufacturing plant in Santa Clara, California, where it is designing and producing display test samples using MicroLED technology.
Image Credit: TrendForce
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is understood to be providing support for producing smaller form factor applications, which could include future Apple Watch models and AR wearables. Apple has also reportedly had preliminary talks with Taiwan-based company PlayNitride over cooperation in the MicroLED market.
It will likely be a few years before MicroLED displays appear in Apple products - perhaps one year for the Apple Watch and two to four years for the iPhone - once MicroLED displays can be mass produced both reliably and affordably.
When that time comes, Apple will likely outsource full-scale production of the displays, and Foxconn is clearly planning to pick up at least some of the business, if today's report is anything to go on.
Article Link: Foxconn Reportedly Investing in MicroLED Display Tech for Future iPhones
This TrendForce diagram is apparently the only Micro LED diagram online but it’s inaccurate and misleading. The LED layers in the Micro LED will actually be made up of many layers just as the OLED is. The Micro LED will have charge transport layers and will obviously need a front electrode of some kind. So, there’s no guarantee it’ll be thinner or simpler than an OLED.
Image Credit: TrendForce
Probably, but they'll do it poorly while Apple will take more time and in the end, do it better.
Interesting possibility. But if Apple isn’t going to make mLED displays, I wonder how that squares with them secretly making mLED displays. Proof of concept? Their factory supposedly isn’t big enough for mass volumes, so possibly. But Foxconn could do that as part of a licensing agreement. As the article suggests, maybe they want to develop as much as they can in-house. Maybe they’ll develop the LuxVue tech the way they want it in their secret factory before licensing it to Foxconn for mass production.
Remember, we are talking about Apple so of course there will be a premium. Apple always charges a premium. People buy anyway. This will be no different. 2k is an exaggeration for effect but Apple will maintain the high end of the market with the new display. Expect to pay at least the same as we do now. You can buy less expensive phones now but that fact does not have any downward pressure on Apple’s phone prices. It is all part of their brand. Apple may sell 3 year old phones for less but the new line occupies the top sales price.
The display has nothing to do with the glass covering of said display. The fact that your Apple Watch glass scratched only has significance to the glass itself.
