iPhone X was such an elegant design. I hope we see a return to those Watch-style smooth curved edges in the 14 Pro, as has been rumored!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Report: Apple's Struggle to Develop MicroLED Technology Led to iPhone X Changes and Reliance on Samsung
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Likely it'd be contract manufacturers, building to the designs Apple has come up with. Same as Apple Silicon. The article even mentioned that they'd be supplied by LG and SHARP.
Edit: Silicone... :/
Last edited:
OK, so MicroLED is like TikTok. OLED is like Reddit. And LCD is like Facebook. Got it!
So would MicroLED have the same dead-black blacks like the OLED iPhones do? To be honest, of all the various technical differences, that is the one that I, still to this day, marvel at ever since I got my iPhone X.
Really Basic stuff which is missing on iOS.
1. Clipboard History. I copy and paste so many items everyday and need to refer my older clipboard history which is not there on iOS. Suppose I copy an Shipment ID and then move on to my professional work where I copy something else. Later in the day, I need to recheck the status of my shipment. It's one tap on Android vs. multiple on iOS.
2. Adblocking and spam call blocking at a system level. iOS still does not have this functionality. I am tired of attending spam calls on Ios.
3. Number key on top of keyboard. This is a big one. iOS still lacks a Basic number key on top of keyboard. Yes I know there are third party keyboards but unlike on Android they seem very clunky. It also doesn't help that iOS forces you to use the system keyboard for passwords which is literally when I need the number keys.
4. A proper file manager. I have a password protected folder on my Samsung for work sensitive stuff. A separate folder for my content and another one for documents. The file manager feels like an actual computer version unlike the barebones one on iOS. I can literally connect the phone to my PC and browse this just like it's a USB drive. No crappy iTunes Middleware.
5. Multi Window and pop up view. I can split my screen in two and watch videos whilst working at the same time. I can even save those multi Windows as Groups. I have programmed Bixby Routines to have my Blackberry Work and Samsung Notes display on my screen automatically when I am at work when I am on transit to home, Netflix and Google News. This level of automation is missing on iOS. I can literally see 4 apps at the same time which makes much better use of that 6.8 inch display on the phone.
6. The S-Pen is very convenient as it allows me to jot down my thoughts or quickly take notes know the go. I don't even have to unlock the phone. Just jot it down and the phone will pin it to an AOD.
7. A much bigger notifications setup. On Android, notifications are persistent meaning when you look at them once they aren't wiped out. You can still see them so I safely take a glance at them and revisit when I have time. On iOS, simply glancing at the notifications causes them to wiped off. I miss a lot of notifications on iOS.
8. A significantly better battery protection system. Samsung allows you to charge the phone until 85% and let it stay there overnight and it will only fill the remaining 15% exactly when I tell it to using Routines. This way I have no issues with Fast Charging. On iPhone this is absent.
The only reason I bought a 14 Pro Max is because the S22 Ultra just had **** battery life. The thing would run out of battery with just 4 hours of screen on time when my iPhone was on 60%. The S23 Ultra now matches my iPhone in this aspect and since I got this my iPhone has been catching dust.
I’m serious. LCD was manufactured from 1970s. OLED was from 1980s. MicroLED was just from 2012. It took decades for both LCD and OLED to be mature enough for the consumer market.
If you don’t succeed try try again and failure makes success and all of those aphorisms. I expect apple to get the ball rolling with micro-led. Samsung should be afraid of apple.
Sounds like Apple isn't immune to being a customer, but does this help it relate to its customers? I'd say no. lol
Why will Samsung be afraid of Apple? The people who buy Samsung phones are those who don't like the iPhone for whatever reason. Apple using MicroLED isn't going to change that.
Just like how those on iPhone won't switch to Galaxy just because they have foldable.
Android is democracy and iOS is dictatorship. Two distinct OS.Both are distinct audiences and a piece of hardware isn't going to change that.
There are people who buy stuff for their own reasons and micro-led could be one of the reasons. We obviously won’t know now, but when and if this happens we will see.
Does Apple have a display factory?. Why to say that Apple is struggling to “develop…”, when in fact the development and manufacturing of the displays is done by several 3rd parties?. Apple
Just gives the “specs”, no?. Like size, shape, and brightens, no?. What means development in this article?
Just gives the “specs”, no?. Like size, shape, and brightens, no?. What means development in this article?
When Samsung used to for years belittle LG for screen burn in of OLEDs when they were producing LCD panels, they kept showing off examples of their future tech micro-LED TVs that were huge and costed a fortune. It was the usual premise micro-LED will replace OLED as it becomes more economical. Presently Samsung still sell some larger micro-LED TVs but the goal of producing very small ones for computing/phone devices never materialized. The mechanical difficulty of fabrication is very high cost compared to advances with a much more mature OLED marketplace.
Presently Samsung abandoned LCD panels and now makes OLED panels.
Apple is always looking at future technologies that might replace current technologies, but that doesn't mean it will happen. They simply are not a large semiconductor house that can make everything like Samsung does. Given that we were discussing in 2018 that micro-LED might be available in the future and five years later its no where to be seen in diminutive panel sizes, no amount of saying Apple is funding research into micro-LED is going to make it happen as a immediate solution.
Now LG is poking fun about Samsung OLED TV models having burn in as seen in the Forbes article.
and i was so happy when they went back to the iPhone 4 stlye they use now…
Spot on! Great write up. High end Android is a power user's dream. People that havent used both don't realize how dumbed down and crippled iOS really is.
Even when Apple doesn't do the stuff in-house, Apple partners with third party manufacturers for parts technology development. With Samsung Display, Apple is "just" a customer, but with other partners Apple has a lot more direct input, which makes sense considering some of those parts only ever get sold to Apple.
I'd say Apple treats it's customers exactly like it treats Samsung: hates them, but hasn't figured out how to eliminate them. Yet.
No, as you say they rely on third parties. Sure Apple can fund R&D to third parties but in-house research into micro-LED has shown zero results, just like the industry can't produce any smartphone using micro-LED. This same topic came up in 2018, and so far with zero results. See below.
Apple Developing Its Own MicroLED Displays for Future Devices
Apple has a secret manufacturing facility in Santa Clara, California, where it is designing and producing test samples of its own displays, reports...
www.macrumors.com
Can't wait for a microLED TV? Well, actually you're going to have to wait a very, very long time for such a TV, unless an 89" TV for US$80000 is your thing. IOW, in the TV space, microLED is effectively still vapourware.
Since we're talking about one of Apple's new component tech, let me ask if anyone remembers liquid metal. (Not the Apple Watch face, but the material.) I haven't heard about it for years. Can anyone offer insight as to whether it was shelved, or is still being pursued?
Nope; it doesn't have a MicroSD card slot. That's a huge con. But also, the S10e had the fingerprint scanner right on the power button; every phone should have this. Second, the speakers should be front firing. Too many times have I held the phone and cover the downfiring speaker; no matter how good it is, it's being muffled. Sony makes phones with front firing speakers, I loved that on my XZ1 Compact.
Apple is not a display company, never has been.
MicroLEDs Moving From Lab to Fab
Bringing the cost down and yield up on microLED is proving to be formidable, but display companies and LED suppliers are working together toward production-worthy solutions.
semiengineering.com
Robinson pointed to the need for extremely high microLED yields compared to conventional LEDs, including high driver IC and backplane assembly yields, which requires end-to-end fab-wide defect management strategy. In addition to in-line yield management improvements, microLEDs currently do not have a production-worthy process for quickly transferring microLEDs from wafer to interposer or wafer to backplane. This process, a full-scale replacement of pick-and-place tools, is currently a great limiter to the manufacturability of microLEDs.
From the wafer processing side, Srinivasa Banna, vice president of MicroLED R&D, Lumileds said that in addition to reducing defectivity, which contributes directly to yield, microLED fabs must maintain very tight wavelength uniformity control on both the epi wafer and across the finished panel.
On the testing front, Banna added that while many solutions exist to do photoluminescence-based (PL-based) testing, which measures the spectral properties of the light, including desired wavelength, at epi and processed wafer levels, wafer-level testing of electroluminance (EL) is badly needed. “The ultimate proof is whether the LED lights up properly or not. We want to be able to a-priori mark the bad microLEDs, or the ones with insufficient light emission, and selectively choose the known-good-die for transfer to the backplane.” In lieu of wafer-scale EL testing, test structures provide data, “but this really only gives us a go/no go response,” he said.
Other problems are typical of early-stage technologies. “One of the greatest challenges is the lack of standard manufacturing flows and the diverse range of approaches that are being taken. This leads to a lack of scale to drive equipment development for high-volume manufacturing,” said David Haynes, managing director of strategic marketing at Lam Research. “In the short term, we expect to see increased commercialization of small, high-brightness microLED displays in AR/VR and other consumer products such as smart watches, as well as microLED light engines for automotive displays and large-area projection.”
As you can see the mechanical fab yields of micro-LED is very difficult on a larger scale. It's why no-one has been successful except in much larger TV panels.
