Kuo: Apple Watch Ultra With MicroLED Display Indeed Canceled

[ZZ9pluralZalpha]

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.

I suspect the predicted manufacturing yields were still so low that “loss leader” was becoming “hemorrhaging money per unit”, even for a relatively low-volume model. Hopefully R&D efforts will continue, even if redirected to other technologies; it would IMHO be a strategic mistake for Apple to relinquish control of their display technologies to suppliers like Samsung.

 

[svish]

Not too disappointed. The current display on Apple watch is good.

 

[UltimaKilo]

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.

Aren’t Mac sales up? Also, Vision Pro has been selling really well, above Sony’s ability to produce the panels.

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.

Not too disappointed. The current display on Apple watch is good.

Except, most people would have welcomed an extra 3-4 hours of battery life from the Apple Watch, so no, current display tech is not adequate.

 

[scrapesleon]

apple be like micro led coming 2024 2025 oh alright lets cancel it

 

[MacHeritage]

It looks like Apple might be re-assessing their R&D expenditures to reduce spending.

This is it right here!

Think of when Steve Jobs came back and started slashing things that didn't make money or sense to him. Apple is starting with some of the largest expenses that don't directly relate to what they are able to sell or make money on and cutting back. Which they should do. If all of a sudden people stop buying products etc. Apple needs to be ready for that.

Economy thinking is what all these cuts are about. No more throwing money on things that are not actually necessary right now.

MicroLED and the Car project are the first to get the axe but there will be others. Those have been very long projects that don't have any immediate benefit going forward. Take what they did produce and put that into products you can ship, is where I think this is going.

 

[dannys1]

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.

But i'm not sure it's an incremental improvement at this size that's the thing - it feels more like a side step. I'm not sure we'd actually see any tangible or visible benefit from it.

 

[Jim Lahey]

MLED is a commercial unicorn. It may never be viable. And if it proves to have far greater longevity than OLED, how long would (or did) it take for someone to figure out that this isn’t a profit-friendly outcome long term…