Making a case: MicroLED Display in iPhone 6S

[SR71]

NOTE: Please don't vote in the poll till you've read at least most of my post.

I've been reading up on Apple's purchase of LuxVue, the only company to be producing microLED displays, and it got me thinking... could this be the thing that the 6S get's updated with that no one sees coming? Although most display changes such as the size and resolution almost always correlate with complete redesigns (such as the iPhone 4, 5, 6, etc.), I do not think that a switch to microLED displays would be completely out of the question. My reasons for believing this are pretty simple.

Prior to the iPhone 5S, about a year and a half before it's release and right before Apple released the iPhone 5, Apple purchased AuthenTec. A little more than a year later they released the iPhone 5S with a fingerprint sensor using AuthenTec's technology. Similarly, a little more than a year ago right before the iPhone 6 was released Apple bought LuxVue (http://bit.ly/1U4hgm4). LuxVue produces power-efficient, super bright displays (up to 9 times brighter than current AMOLED and LCD displays) that experts are saying is the next big leap in display technology (http://bit.ly/1HZRYgl). Keep in mind this is coming from the person who created the pentile matrix used in Samsung's AMOLED displays, so it's not just anyone.

Anyways, onto my point. A little more than a year after Apple bought AuthenTec their technology was implemented into the iPhone. So similarly the same could happen with LuxVue's technology with the release of the 6S. Also, remember when everyone was completely shocked that the 5S had a 64-bit processor? Nobody saw it coming. Hell, nobody thought it was possible at the time. It took Qualcomm completely by surprise and forced them into rushing out their own 64-bit processor which ended up having problems with getting too hot.

Just as with their A7 64-bit processor, Apple could do the same thing this year and leapfrog the entire industry and surprise everyone with microLED. An explanation for the lack of leaks could be because of the now glued on metal plate on the back of the display in the 6S. This makes it harder to identify the display type because from the front it appears the same as any other iPhone display. This would also explain why there is only one flex cable on the leaked 6S display whereas on every past iPhone there have been two flex cables (one for the display, one for the digitizer/Touch ID) and the only other technology to use a single display connector is OLED.

This wouldn't classify as a change in resolution or size, which again correlate with major redesigns, but rather a huge bump in power efficiency, brightness (for outdoor viewing), etc. Power and efficiency are always notable improvements with S releases, so it's not like this would be out of the question. So what do you guys think? Is this sound reasoning? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this (it's always fun to speculate).

 

[0928001]

Great post. As much as I'd love to have Apple leapfrog Samsung's AMOLED technology, I think it'll be the iPhone 7 that has the mLED tech. The move to ARMv8 couldn't be told through pictures, which is why it was a surprise to everyone.

All that being said, Apple moves VERY quickly to adpot new technology invented by companies they purchase. I voted no, but I am 75/25 in favor of "no". There is a chance considering they shrunk the battery for the 6S.

 

[SR71]

Great post. As much as I'd love to have Apple leapfrog Samsung's AMOLED technology, I think it'll be the iPhone 7 that has the mLED tech. The move to ARMv8 couldn't be told through pictures, which is why it was a surprise to everyone.

All that being said, Apple moves VERY quickly to adpot new technology invented by companies they purchase. I voted no, but I am 75/25 in favor of "no". There is a chance...

Thanks! I put a lot of time and thought into it, so I'm glad someone actually read it and appreciated the points I brought up. I agree that it's more likely that we'll see it in the iPhone 7, but seeing how quick they adopted AuthenTec's tech has me thinking they could definitely do the same with mLED.

At the time I was actually convinced that AuthenTec's tech wouldn't be implemented until the iPhone 6 mostly because Touch ID was a big change to the home button and prior to the 5S, "S" models only ever received internal hardware changes, nothing external like the home button

 

[recoil80]

Good post and good point. I voted maybe, but is more likely to see such a change in 2016

 

[Andres Cantu]

I would like for this to happen, but I'm sure Apple would rather keep using the same displays in order to save money (unless the new technology would be cheaper to produce).

I can see them taking advantage of this technology when they increase resolution next year.

 

[VforVelveta]

My guess is we'd see it in the Watch before it goes to the iPhone. As noted in the article, one of the primary difficulties is making screens at the size needed for phones, but the size for the Watch would be more immediately viable. Couple this with the quantity Apple would need to produce, and it seems unlikely that it'll hit the iPhone until there are good yields for larger screens.

Work out the problems at smaller sizes/lower quantities, then scale up to iPhone levels seems like a more viable path for a technology this new. Though Touch ID was new when it launched, the tech behind it, i.e. capacitive sensors, was fairly mature, whereas this is going to need a lot more testing in both manufacturing and real world viability before it'd be suitable for a product at the iPhone scale.

 

[Newtons Apple]

Not going to happen on the 6S or 6S+

 

[iphonedude2008]

That was a really great post. Thanks for sharing. I voted yes because it could really crush their competition. Samsung is always praised for their displays, but if apple comes along and beats them at their game, they would outsell the last iPhone by a huge amount. That would provide support for Apple's expected 90 million unit sale of iPhones this year.

 

[cmichaelb]

Well thought out and you make some great points. I just don't see Apple jumping to new screen technologies just yet.

 

[SR71]

My guess is we'd see it in the Watch before it goes to the iPhone. As noted in the article, one of the primary difficulties is making screens at the size needed for phones, but the size for the Watch would be more immediately viable. Couple this with the quantity Apple would need to produce, and it seems unlikely that it'll hit the iPhone until there are good yields for larger screens.

Work out the problems at smaller sizes/lower quantities, then scale up to iPhone levels seems like a more viable path for a technology this new. Though Touch ID was new when it launched, the tech behind it, i.e. capacitive sensors, was fairly mature, whereas this is going to need a lot more testing in both manufacturing and real world viability before it'd be suitable for a product at the iPhone scale.

Ah, that's another point I was gonna bring up in the OP, but forgot about it. The thing is, the same was said about Apple's 64-bit processor. People claimed it wasn't possible in a phone and then here come's Apple proving all of them wrong. I feel like a similar thing could happen with a mLED display on the 6S. That's huge speculation right there, but it wouldn't surprise me.

That was a really great post. Thanks for sharing. I voted yes because it could really crush their competition. Samsung is always praised for their displays, but if apple comes along and beats them at their game, they would outsell the last iPhone by a huge amount. That would provide support for Apple's expected 90 million unit sale of iPhones this year.

Exactly! This would be a huge selling point. Also, and this isn't really related, this could be a big talking point for them. Let me explain. So Apple events are usually around 2 hours long, right? Well I just can't see them talking about iOS 9 for long, and I don't think they'll talk about El Capitan since OS X releases are usually in October, so that leaves the remaining time for the iPhone 6S, new Apple TV, and the occasional sales update (which is usually pretty quick).

The Apple TV will probably take up about ~20 minutes MAYBE since it'll be newly updated, but since the main feature of it (watching cable TV on it) won't be available at launch I can't see them talking about the Apple TV for too long. This leaves the rest of time to the iPhone.

Since there's no redesign that leaves them with a few topics to talk about: Force Touch (maybe 5 minutes of talking + a demo of this), the A9 (maybe two minutes of this), the camera (maybe another 5 minutes of this) and... that's it? There must be one other thing (or maybe not... this is Apple we're talking about) that they'll talk about that will really, really stand out to people. With the 4S it was Siri, with the 5S it was Touch ID, with the 6S I can't see it just being Force Touch and the camera as the main upgrades. A new display technology that looks amazing would really stand out. Just look at what people said after they say the Retina display on the iPhone 4. Having an mLED display would certainly stand out.

 

[iphonedude2008]

Ah, that's another point I was gonna bring up in the OP, but forgot about it. The thing is, the same was said about Apple's 64-bit processor. People claimed it wasn't possible in a phone and then here come's Apple proving all of them wrong. I feel like a similar thing could happen with a mLED display on the 6S. That's huge speculation right there, but it wouldn't surprise me.



Exactly! This would be a huge selling point. Also, and this isn't really related, this could be a big talking point for them. Let me explain. So Apple events are usually around 2 hours long, right? Well I just can't see them talking about iOS 9 for long, and I don't think they'll talk about El Capitan since OS X releases are usually in October, so that leaves the remaining time for the iPhone 6S, new Apple TV, and the occasional sales update (which is usually pretty quick).

The Apple TV will probably take up about ~20 minutes MAYBE since it'll be newly updated, but since the main feature of it (watching cable TV on it) won't be available at launch I can't see them talking about the Apple TV for too long. This leaves the rest of time to the iPhone.

Since there's no redesign that leaves them with a few topics to talk about: Force Touch (maybe 5 minutes of talking + a demo of this), the A9 (maybe two minutes of this), the camera (maybe another 5 minutes of this) and... that's it? There must be one other thing (or maybe not... this is Apple we're talking about) that they'll talk about that will really, really stand out to people. With the 4S it was Siri, with the 5S it was Touch ID, with the 6S I can't see it just being Force Touch and the camera as the main upgrades. A new display technology that looks amazing would really stand out. Just look at what people said after they say the Retina display on the iPhone 4. Having an mLED display would certainly stand out.

Yeah I just about the S taglines (official or not) and the mLED upgrade would be perfect
3GS - speed: doubled RAM and increase clock speed
4S - Siri: no explanation needed
5S - Security: Touch ID
6S - Screen: Force Touch and mLED

While thats terrible evidence to make a claim on, one can still dream

 

[nj-morris]

I voted maybe, because you brought up some quite valid points. I'm curious, what's the difference between microLED and AMOLED?

 

[Flow39]

Great points, thanks for sharing. I would absolutely love if they implemented this into the next iPhones, they would destroy the competition!

 

[SR71]

Yeah I just about the S taglines (official or not) and the mLED upgrade would be perfect
3GS - speed: doubled RAM and increase clock speed
4S - Siri: no explanation needed
5S - Security: Touch ID
6S - Screen: Force Touch and mLED

While thats terrible evidence to make a claim on, one can still dream

That would make sense to me. Let's hope we're right.

I voted maybe, because you brought up some quite valid points. I'm curious, what's the difference between microLED and AMOLED?

I think the main differences are that microLED is more power-efficient than AMOLEd and LCD while also being nine times brighter. So it should increase battery life while making outdoor use significantly better. And since it's LED it'd benefit from the super deep blacks and vivid colors that OLED displays are known for. Keep in mind that "vivid colors" does not mean oversaturated colors. OLED displays aren't always oversaturated; some are even more color accurate than LCD displays.

 

[recoil80]

Ah, that's another point I was gonna bring up in the OP, but forgot about it. The thing is, the same was said about Apple's 64-bit processor. People claimed it wasn't possible in a phone and then here come's Apple proving all of them wrong. I feel like a similar thing could happen with a mLED display on the 6S. That's huge speculation right there, but it wouldn't surprise me.



Exactly! This would be a huge selling point. Also, and this isn't really related, this could be a big talking point for them. Let me explain. So Apple events are usually around 2 hours long, right? Well I just can't see them talking about iOS 9 for long, and I don't think they'll talk about El Capitan since OS X releases are usually in October, so that leaves the remaining time for the iPhone 6S, new Apple TV, and the occasional sales update (which is usually pretty quick).

The Apple TV will probably take up about ~20 minutes MAYBE since it'll be newly updated, but since the main feature of it (watching cable TV on it) won't be available at launch I can't see them talking about the Apple TV for too long. This leaves the rest of time to the iPhone.

Since there's no redesign that leaves them with a few topics to talk about: Force Touch (maybe 5 minutes of talking + a demo of this), the A9 (maybe two minutes of this), the camera (maybe another 5 minutes of this) and... that's it? There must be one other thing (or maybe not... this is Apple we're talking about) that they'll talk about that will really, really stand out to people. With the 4S it was Siri, with the 5S it was Touch ID, with the 6S I can't see it just being Force Touch and the camera as the main upgrades. A new display technology that looks amazing would really stand out. Just look at what people said after they say the Retina display on the iPhone 4. Having an mLED display would certainly stand out.

They may spend more time for the Apple TV. If there will be the possibility to bring apps to the Apple TV that thing alone could take a lot of time. Tim skipped the updates last year and even at the WWDC but I expect some business data to be delivered this time.
And the event needs to be shorter in my opinion. This year's WWDC keynote took really too long, I find 80/90 minutes to be more than enough for some products showcase.

 

[SR71]

They may spend more time for the Apple TV. If there will be the possibility to bring apps to the Apple TV that thing alone could take a lot of time. Tim skipped the updates last year and even at the WWDC but I expect some business data to be delivered this time.
And the event needs to be shorter in my opinion. This year's WWDC keynote took really too long, I find 80/90 minutes to be more than enough for some products showcase.

Ah, very true. That's one thing I hadn't thought of. I found that the WWDC keynote only got boring near the end when they were talking about Apple Music, but prior to that bit of they keynote I thought it was fine. Also, aren't iPhone keynotes usually about 1.5-2 hours long? Last years was two hours (they announced the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch) and then in 2013 it was about 1.5 hours (announced the 5S and nothing else), so I'd expect this years to be about 2 hours (they'll announce iPhone 6S and Apple TV).

 

[chrizzz09]

You know… this could be really possible.
If I remember correctly there was mention of a "front facing flash" for selfies in the code of iOS 9, but nobody found evidence for a flash on the leaked 6S parts.

Now...what if there is no front flash but the new microLED display with 9 times the brightness is used via software as a flash.

 

[iphonedude2008]

You know… this could be really possible.
If I remember correctly there was mention of a "front facing flash" for selfies in the code of iOS 9, but nobody found evidence for a flash on the leaked 6S parts.

Now...what if there is no front flash but the new microLED display with 9 times the brightness is used via software as a flash.

Wow that would make it a great display and an amazing camera upgrade.

 

[SR71]

You know… this could be really possible.
If I remember correctly there was mention of a "front facing flash" for selfies in the code of iOS 9, but nobody found evidence for a flash on the leaked 6S parts.

Now...what if there is no front flash but the new microLED display with 9 times the brightness is used via software as a flash.

It's a stretch, but I wouldn't be surprised if this is what the "front facing flash" code in iOS 9 was relating to. Snapchat actually does the same thing with their front facing flash for selfies where it just flashes the entire screen white to light up your face. Works pretty well too. Implementing this along with a microLED display would make the front facing flash feature very bright and would definitely make sense in this case.

 

[AlexSykes]

I think you make some very good points! People often bash Apple saying they're not innovating anymore, but the 64 bit processor they announced on the 5s was unexpected and a big thing! Just like TouchID was a great addition the the iPhone.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple introduced a new technology like mLED to the 6s, Apple always seems to introduce something with the S versions that make people want to go for it over the numbered version. Personally I love the iPhone 6 now as much as I did when I first got it. I've had problems with the enclosure being faulty on two devices so far making the screen creak a lot and feel loose, so I think the thickening of the enclosure might help with this. The new screen enclosure part where it moulded together does also suggest that there's been bigger changes to the actual display. Force Touch would probably be coupled with this technology as LCD's tend to ripple when force is applied to the screen, which wouldn't be good with Force Touch.

 

[SR71]

I think you make some very good points! People often bash Apple saying they're not innovating anymore, but the 64 bit processor they announced on the 5s was unexpected and a big thing! Just like TouchID was a great addition the the iPhone.

I wouldn't be surprised if Apple introduced a new technology like mLED to the 6s, Apple always seems to introduce something with the S versions that make people want to go for it over the numbered version. Personally I love the iPhone 6 now as much as I did when I first got it. I've had problems with the enclosure being faulty on two devices so far making the screen creak a lot and feel loose, so I think the thickening of the enclosure might help with this. The new screen enclosure part where it moulded together does also suggest that there's been bigger changes to the actual display. Force Touch would probably be coupled with this technology as LCD's tend to ripple when force is applied to the screen, which wouldn't be good with Force Touch.

Great points as well! Especially agree with you on the rippling effect that happens to LCD when force is applied. Also, just to add more fuel to the fire it appear that the iPhone 6s will have animated wallpaper a la Apple Watch. With an mLED display the only part of the display that would be on are the pixels that are lighting up thus using far less power to display the wallpaper, while with LCD the whole display lights up. Jony Ive specifically mentioned the old display tech that the iPhone uses and actually said this after the Watch was released:

He picked up his iPhone 6 and pressed the home button. “The whole of the display comes on,” he said. “That, to me, feels very, very old.” (The iPhone 6 reached stores two weeks later.) He went on to explain that an Apple Watch uses a new display technology whose blacks are blacker than those in an iPhone’s L.E.D. display. This makes it easier to mask the point where, beneath a glass surface, a display ends and its frame begins. An Apple Watch jellyfish swims in deep space, and becomes, Ive said, as much an attribute of the watch as an image. On a current iPhone screen, a jellyfish would be pinned against dark gray, and framed in black, and, Ive said, have “much less magic.”

 

[cmChimera]

Great points as well! Especially agree with you on the rippling effect that happens to LCD when force is applied. Also, just to add more fuel to the fire it appear that the iPhone 6s will have animated wallpaper a la Apple Watch. With an mLED display the only part of the display that would be on are the pixels that are lighting up thus using far less power to display the wallpaper, while with LCD the whole display lights up. Jony Ive specifically mentioned the old display tech that the iPhone uses and actually said this after the Watch was released:

I'm going to freak out a bit from excitement if the 6s screen is mLED. I think it seems clear now that it is at least an OLED.

 

[SR71]

I'm going to freak out a bit from excitement if the 6s screen is mLED. I think it seems clear now that it is at least an OLED.

Yup it's definitely looking like it'll at least be OLED at the minimum. If it does so happen to be mLED this will easily be the biggest S model update to the iPhone will make it an insta-buy for me. This is super exciting. On the other hand I will be incredibly disappointed if it's a regular LCD display this year, but I really don't see that happening at this point.

 

[angusmcfisher]

I couldn't help but chime in after hearing about the animated wallpapers and Jony's comments about how he almost dismissed the LED screen on the iPhone... I really hope SR71 is correct!

 

[SR71]

I couldn't help but chime in after hearing about the animated wallpapers and Jony's comments about how he almost dismissed the LED screen on the iPhone... I really hope SR71 is correct!

All signs are pointing to at least some change in display tech. Let's hope it's mLED!