Kuo: Apple Watch Ultra With MicroLED Display Indeed Canceled

[tomtad]

Looks like this is the way the “don’t call it a recession” is finally affecting Apple.

They haven’t announced mass layoffs, but then again they rarely announce anything.

But if it must be done, it seems they are trimming the right fat.

There's certainly some refocussing going on behind the scenes. A number of executives have left as well which is likely contributing to the shake up.

It's not hard to see why. Every product segment for Apple is in recession apart from iPhone and Services. Add to that sales of new iPhones struggling in China and Vision Pro shaping up to be a damp squib. Apple isn't doomed but they need a clear strategy to to arrest decline and maintain or grow their market share and recently it's all seemed too much like treading water with many of their existing product lines.

 

[jmgregory1]

It’s sad that they couldn’t figure out micro-LED, but it’s been problematic from the start, with multiple factories trying and failing to get past the high failure rate / low yield. But as a business, Apple can’t just keep pouring billions of dollars into something that doesn’t have a timeline for ROI. As others have noted, I’d like to see Apple spend billions on battery tech, so that all their devices would last longer unplugged. On the Watch, battery life is why I switched to a Garmin Epix (the previous version that only has 16 days of battery life).

 

[bluespark]

The thing about the Watch is that Apple could re-introduce OS9 and it would be a clear upgrade over OS10, on any display technology.

 

[Grebg]

Sad news. I'm part of a minority of people on this, but IMO screen technology is very important to Apple watch evolution. OLED still have imperfect viewing angles and better screen technology could add a subtle but noticeable improvement to make the screen almost disappear.
At the moment, Apple watch still cast a "digital haze", still don't support True tone display, and still feel like more like a digital device than a real watch.

Microled was previously described as "paint on glass" effect and ground breaking improvement compared the other display technology

 

[Rychiar]

I don't understand how this tech hasn't come down in price. they've been working on it for almost a decade. Samsung built an entire microLED wall... and sure its insanely expensive but I'd think a tiny watch screen all these years later would be reasonable

 

[Adreitz]

I don't understand how this tech hasn't come down in price. they've been working on it for almost a decade. Samsung built an entire microLED wall... and sure its insanely expensive but I'd think a tiny watch screen all these years later would be reasonable

It's pretty easy to understand. Making such a display is HARD. Mass producing the display with adequate quality is HARDER. And it gets even harder when the pixels need to be small enough for a retina screen. That "the Wall" TV is what, 110" diagonal and only 4K resolution? The pixels there are comparatively huge. But that TV still starts at something like $80,000 because of the difficulty of fabrication.

 

[turbineseaplane]

So many things cancelled


What ARE they making?

 

[dominiongamma]

If Apple does indeed cancel all MicroLED development, I’m afraid we’ll be stuck with OLED displays for many, many years.

I feel you, people sensitive to PMW. I’ll try to make my LCD devices to last as long as possible. I hope Apple maintains A15/M2 devices supported as long as possible, for at least 5 or 6 more years.

OLED is good😜 micoLED been hearing about for years that it will coming every year but never does

 

[Nozuka]

If they continue like this, their own 5G modem might be next 😅

 

[turbineseaplane]

Can they pour some R&D into smaller, higher capacity batteries? Everyone I know with one of these watches laments how often it needs to be charged vs something like a Fitbit Charge 5 which lasts 7-10 days between charges

It’s a big reason why I have a Garmin watch

Besides now loving the ecosystem of Garmin, I love that I can track sleeping, walks, hikes and general activity for usually over a week before bothering to recharge

 

[turbineseaplane]

that has less to do with battery and more to do with raw power consumption - apple watch screen is more vivid and bright and is a more complex device with higher power draw.

Other wearables like Fitbit and Garmin are simpler and more focused on being a watch/fitness tracker than a secondary phone like the apple watch.

I wish Apple would make a simpler option in that case

For many fitness folks, it’s actually a huge DRAW to not have the thing try to do so much … at the expense of focus and battery life

Not everyone wants a Swiss Army knife .. sometimes you just need the screwdriver

 

[aknabi]

Good. Now Apple can focus on important products like AirPods with cameras and HomePods with screens.

Forget about that… they can laser focus on new Memojis… that’s where the public is screaming for innovation and where the next trillion of market cap is coming from!

 

[Brien]

The thing about the Watch is that Apple could re-introduce OS9 and it would be a clear upgrade over OS10, on any display technology.

I’m not sure this would fit on a watch screen…

 

[Sir_Macs_A_Lot]

Not 'economically viable'? Can someone please tell me why the Ultra costs soooo much more than the regular Apple Watch, again?

 

[deconstruct60]

Looks like this is the way the “don’t call it a recession” is finally affecting Apple.

They haven’t announced mass layoffs, but then again they rarely announce anything.

But if it must be done, it seems they are trimming the right fat.

If the DoJ/EU/etc regulators kill off Apple's annual multibilion dollar payment they get from Google for 'selling Apple users into ads' then that will be $2-4B of 'free' money that disappears. That will have nothing to do with "recession", that is just the end of the free 'gravy train' for doing practically no real 'work'/'value add' at all. The end users and google are doing the 'work' ; Apple is just collecting the check.

If that happens lots of 'trimming the fat' is going to take place because it was a multiple billion dollar 'slush fund' that covered up lots of stuff that Apple could just throw money at and not care if it returned an investment or not ( because another Billion dollar check was coming next year no matter what. )



Similar with lots of other tech/media/etc companies that got a massive , disproportionate infusion of money from the govertment debt subsidized pandemic binge buying. They over hired , over committed and over paid and now the party is over. The pull back in the over the bloated subsections is offset by the recovery in the other sectors that didn't fare as well. Everything wasn't perfectly uniform going 'up' in the pandemic and it won't be perfectly uniform coming 'down'.
Apple doesn't really need that slush fund. Apple sells profitable profits that can self fund their R&D. But there are likely going to be more deliberate and incrementally more risk adverse.


( the modem project better get their stuff together.... They likely need to ship something inside a year and stop being a huge money consumption pit. Probably not in the flagship iPhone, but something. )


P.S. App Store changes coming also for Apple

Netflix No Longer Allowing Subscribers to Pay Through Apple's App Store

Netflix subscribers who still pay their monthly fees through the App Store in-app purchase system will soon need to add a new payment method to keep their accounts active, Netflix is telling customers. Though Netflix stopped allowing customers to subscribe to its streaming service on iOS...

forums.macrumors.com

That isn't a 'recession'. That is just caps on the Apple Tax application to other product's revenue flow.
The AppStore is still likely going to make billions , but the ease at which money just falls out of the sky and into Apple's Scrooge McDuck money collection pit is going to shift.

 

[haemolysis]

Costs too high.. I thought that was the whole point, using the Apple Watch as a loss-leader to pump some R&D into the tech for potential future iPhones, Macs etc. We all knew it wasn’t really ever going to revolutionise the watch itself.

 

[Bacong]

not economically viable eh? I just watched Falling Down yesterday.

 

[bluespark]

I’m not sure this would fit on a watch screen…

Fair. Also, that really brings back some memories. Also, I am old.

 

[du57in]

This makes perfect sense. QDEL is going to surpass MicroLED before it even launches.

QDEL has all the benefits of OLED, none of the drawbacks AND it can be made using current LCD production lines.

In the article below, the prototypes that have been shown off are 12 and 30 inches, and Sharp is supposedly prioritizing phones and watches.

Sharp secretly revealed the first QDEL TV at CES

With all of the benefits of OLED TV, yet none of its weaknesses, QDEL tech has been tempting us for years. It made its first appearance at CES 2024.

www.digitaltrends.com

 

[Zwhaler]

I'm not sure what benefit it would add? Potentially increase brightness over OLED, but there's been no scenario where i can't see my watch face - even whilst swimming in the Caribbean sea!

The same could be said about any incremental improvement in screen technology over the last decades. Incremental improvements are still important.

Given the fact that Apple is always considering upcoming competing screen technologies that offer a more substantial benefit, this was probably the right decision.

 

[krspkbl]

i think MicroLED has potential but honestly i think i'd wouldn't mind if every device went to OLED and stuck with it. It's a great display technology. Maybe in 10-15 years we can move on from it.

 

[dgdosen]

Just like with the modem, maybe Apple is realizing it doesn't have the in house expertise, and will default to purchasing from the supply chain, if and when they're ready.

Long live mini-led.

 

[coolfactor]

Can they pour some R&D into smaller, higher capacity batteries? Everyone I know with one of these watches laments how often it needs to be charged vs something like a Fitbit Charge 5 which lasts 7-10 days between charges

They're already doing battery research. This was reported on this site back in November.

Report: Apple Developing Custom Batteries for Launch in 2025

Apple is developing custom batteries with significantly improved performance that it aims to bring to its devices starting in 2025, ETNews reports. ...

www.macrumors.com

 

[coolfactor]

Looks like this is the way the “don’t call it a recession” is finally affecting Apple.

They haven’t announced mass layoffs, but then again they rarely announce anything.

But if it must be done, it seems they are trimming the right fat.

I'm honestly surprised by these recent announcements, and resulting layoffs. Guess cancelling a project is the safest way to trim staff, rather than just pure layoffs.

 

[Shirasaki]

If Apple does indeed cancel all MicroLED development, I’m afraid we’ll be stuck with OLED displays for many, many years.

I feel you, people sensitive to PMW. I’ll try to make my LCD devices to last as long as possible. I hope Apple maintains A15/M2 devices supported as long as possible, for at least 5 or 6 more years.

Which is not going to happen. A15 will be discontinued as usual. PWM sensitivity has been deliberately ignored by Apple and will not be addressed.