MicroLED Apple Watch Ultra Project Potentially Loses Another Supplier

[MacRumors]

The rumored microLED Apple Watch Ultra project may have lost another key supplier, according to Display Supply Chain Consultants CEO Ross Young.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, manufacturing equipment company Kulicke & Soffa said that one of its "strategic customers" has canceled a project related to the "advanced display" market:

Previously referred to as Project W, the Company has been engaged with one of its strategic customers (the "Customer") to support the Customer with the development and future mass production of certain technologies relating to advanced display (the "Project"). In connection with the Customer's strategic review of its business, the Customer has informed the Company that it has cancelled the Project.

In a social media post on Monday, Young suggested that "Project W" was potentially related to the microLED Apple Watch. The company said it expects to incur charges of up to $130 million as a result of ceasing operations related to the project.

Kulicke & Soffa's website advertises a "next generation LED die transfer" system for microLED and miniLED displays with "an unprecedented transfer rate at high precision."

Earlier this month, Apple supplier AMS-Osram similarly announced it would "re-assess its microLED strategy" after a "cornerstone project" was "unexpectedly cancelled." Young believes that project also related to the microLED Apple Watch, so there are now at least two major suppliers that have indicated they are no longer involved.

Both Display Supply Chain Consultants and Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo believe that Apple has outright canceled the microLED Apple Watch project for now, but other sources like Bloomberg's Mark Gurman and DigiTimes have cast doubt and believe that Apple has or is actively seeking alternative suppliers for the project.

In any case, a microLED Apple Watch Ultra appears to remain several years away at a minimum.

Article Link: MicroLED Apple Watch Ultra Project Potentially Loses Another Supplier

 

[MayaUser]

Nobody is trusting Apple anymore after the "sapphire crystal "

 

[tomtad]

I thought this had been added to the ever increasing pile of cancelled projects?

 

[jz0309]

MicroLED has been a few years out for a few years and seemingly will remain a few years out for the next few years…
Whatever, my Ultra2 display is awesome and so is battery life…

 

[Return Zero]

I wonder if OLED is getting better than they ever thought it would, and there's less pressure/incentive to push microLED. I mean, I for one never expected them to hit 3000 nits with OLED so soon.

 

[magbarn]

Microled is basically solid state EV batteries at this point. Both vaporware when it comes to affordable mass production

 

[dannyyankou]

Nobody is trusting Apple anymore after the "sapphire crystal "

If you read the article, it says "the Customer (Apple) has informed the Company (supplier) that it has cancelled the project".

 

[StuBeck]

I thought this had been added to the ever increasing pile of cancelled projects?

It has. This is just more confirmation that it isn't happening. It was pretty obvious it wasn't going to happen when it went from being a feature of the normal priced watch to only being in the Ultra.

 

[Cheesehead Dave]

ELI5: Why is a micro LED watch a big deal over the current display? Battery life and/or brightness which are already really good?

 

[klasma]

ELI5: Why is a micro LED watch a big deal over the current display? Battery life and/or brightness which are already really good?

There was a time when “good battery life” meant a couple of weeks.

(Not saying that microLED would enable that.)

 

[jonnysods]

I'm not so fussed about the microLED, I'm aiming to get an AWU at some point in the future, I think perhaps when those black bezels shrink a little...

 

[NT1440]

I wonder if OLED is getting better than they ever thought it would, and there's less pressure/incentive to push microLED. I mean, I for one never expected them to hit 3000 nits with OLED so soon.

It’s just that it’s not “economically viable” to produce microLED at this point in time yet.

Recent reports a single display for an ultra would cost APPLE around $150. On a BOM that’s a huge step up from what the current OLED costs.

microLED requires some of the most advanced precision manufacturing to date. The pixels are so small I don’t think they can use a printing method yet, I can only imagine that some sort of vapor process is involved? It’s really a flabbergasting manufacturing feat to attempt the more I look into the technology.

 

[Fuzzball84]

I wonder if OLED is getting better than they ever thought it would, and there's less pressure/incentive to push microLED. I mean, I for one never expected them to hit 3000 nits with OLED so soon.

There have been massive advances with OLED over the past decade... peak brightness, longevity and power draw. But microLED, from what I gather will be much more robust longer term.

 

[zubikov]

These just aren't selling as strongly as the first few AW generations. Amazon is selling an almost 3 year old new S7 graphite stainless 45mm for $300 today. And that watch is virtually indistinguishable from a brand new S9 selling for more than twice the price.

The market has evolved; marketing has changed and competition has adapted. Don't get me wrong, I like my watch, but Apple is stuck and unwilling to move.

 

[Jim Lahey]

In an industry that's just spent a decade and billions of dollars attempting and mostly succeeding to perfect OLED, it's hard to imagine there is widespread motivation to suddenly replace it with something that lasts potentially orders of magnitude longer before needing to be replaced. Relatively niche applications like the watch notwithstanding, I do not expect to see MLED making waves in the consumer display market any time soon.

 

[klasma]

In an industry that's just spent a decade and billions of dollars attempting and mostly succeeding to perfect OLED, it's hard to imagine there is widespread motivation to suddenly replace it with something that lasts potentially orders of magnitude longer before needing to be replaced. Relatively niche applications like the watch notwithstanding, I do not expect to see MLED making waves in the consumer display market any time soon.

Longevity isn’t an issue, because the devices are obsoleted by software first.

 

[Jim Lahey]

Longevity isn’t an issue, because the devices are obsoleted by software first.

Only if you believe that you must replace a device just because it doesn’t support the newest BloatWare, but I take your point.

 

[klasma]

Only if you believe that you must replace a device just because it doesn’t support the newest BloatWare, but I take your point.

Most people do as a matter of fact replace their computing devices for reasons other than hardware longevity, and hence I deduce that an increased hardware longevity would not be a major issue for the respective manufacturers. This is not about what you or I believe what people should so, it’s about what they do in actuality.

 

[goobot]

That sucks

 

[Jim Lahey]

Most people do as a matter of fact replace their computing devices for reasons other than hardware longevity, and hence I deduce that an increased hardware longevity would not be a major issue for the respective manufacturers. This is not about what you or I believe what people should so, it’s about what they do in actuality.

Yes well all that said, I still highly doubt there’s much widespread appetite among the big players to replace what they just spent so much time and effort perfecting. Obviously you’re entitled to disagree 👍

 

[iPay]

> In connection with the Customer's strategic review of its business, the Customer has informed the Company that it has cancelled the Project.
Jee, who needs AI when humans can write such corporate BS on their own? Hope they didn't revoke the Contract.

 

[JPack]

ELI5: Why is a micro LED watch a big deal over the current display? Battery life and/or brightness which are already really good?

Higher contrast ratio and brightness. 10-20-30x brighter.

Sounds great, except microLED's biggest challenge is power and heat especially in the PPI density of a Watch. This is why you see microLED TVs doing fine. You just need more power. But nobody is successfully miniaturizing it down to a wearable.

 

[desslr]

Well then there you go. Gurman is wrong, Kuo right. Full cancellation, project abandoned.

 

[Timpetus]

MicroLED has been a few years out for a few years and seemingly will remain a few years out for the next few years…
Whatever, my Ultra2 display is awesome and so is battery life…

It's the cold fusion of display tech.

 

[JPack]

It’s just that it’s not “economically viable” to produce microLED at this point in time yet.

Recent reports a single display for an ultra would cost APPLE around $150. On a BOM that’s a huge step up from what the current OLED costs.

microLED requires some of the most advanced precision manufacturing to date. The pixels are so small I don’t think they can use a printing method yet, I can only imagine that some sort of vapor process is involved? It’s really a flabbergasting manufacturing feat to attempt the more I look into the technology.

$150 isn't a problem - it's close to what the OLED for iPhone X cost Apple. Yield isn't a problem either as Vision Pro confirms. Apple pays for Sony's low yield.

People are willing to pay far more than $799 for an Ultra Watch because it competes in the luxury watch market. The main issue with microLED is technical - heat and power density.