TPK to Reportedly Supply Flexible AMOLED Panels For Apple's iWatch

[MacRumors]

Apple may be choosing TPK as a touch panel supplier for its rumored iWatch, says a report in China Times (Via Digitimes). The Taiwan-based company will supposedly begin mass production of flexible AMOLED panels for the iWatch in the second half of 2014.

The report said the iWatch will come equipped with a flexible AMOLED display and 3D protective glass. The rumors also speculated that the iWatch will use silver nanowire touch screen technology developed by TPK in conjunction with Japan-based Nissha Printing.

The rumor suggests Apple will use silver nanowire touch screen technology in the iWatch display. Current flat touch panels use indium tin oxide (ITO), which is brittle and not suitable for a flexible display. Silver nanowires, however, are nanometers thin and can be applied to a 3D curved glass surface, like a watch band in a solution-based, roll-to- printing technique. The silver wire matrix is transparent to the eye and conductive, making silver nanowires perfect for a flexible touchsreen display.

Last year, TPK signed a deal with Japanese firm Nissha Printing to start producing silver nanowire touchscreen displays. Production will ramp up in Q2 2014, with a manufacturing output of two million 6-inch touch panels per month.

TPK is among the world's top touch panel manufacturers by volume and has been supplying Apple with panels for several years. The Taiwanese company was one of the primary suppliers of the touchscreen for the original iPad and provided up to 80% of the panels for the iPhone 4S models.

Article Link: TPK to Reportedly Supply Flexible AMOLED Panels For Apple's iWatch

 

[Bskippy]

So what is being said here is we still have no idea about the screen on the reported 'watch'? okay...

And people complain about the doubling down on secrecy...

 

[mattopotamus]

So what is being said here is we still have no idea about the screen on the reported 'watch'? okay...

And people complain about the doubling down on secrecy...

exactly. It changes weekly haha.

 

[cybermax]

Yeaah We know nothing, BUT It's coming baby!!!

 

[lewisd25]

My wrist is ready.

 

[Dave532]

It'll be interesting if Apple produce a device that'll convince me that a watch is a must have.

I never liked wearing watches, even before mobile phones became commonplace. I'd rely on public clocks or time displays on machines to find out the time as I just found watches irritating on my wrist.

Before the iPhone came out I could not think how Apple could improve upon a BlackBerry but as soon as the iPhone was released everything seemed so obvious.

So I'm personally not interested in medical sensors, I'm not interested in a more convenient way to tell the time or interact with my smart phone.

Now Apple - will you make things interesting for me?

 

[mattopotamus]

It'll be interesting if Apple produce a device that'll convince me that a watch is a must have.

I never liked wearing watches, even before mobile phones became commonplace. I'd rely on public clocks or time displays on machines to find out the time as I just found watches irritating on my wrist.

Before the iPhone came out I could not think how Apple could improve upon a BlackBerry but as soon as the iPhone was released everything seemed so obvious.

So I'm personally not interested in medical sensors, I'm not interested in a more convenient way to tell the time or interact with my smart phone.

Now Apple - will you make things interesting for me?

Well watches, in recent times, have become more of a fashion statement.

As someone who owns a pebble, I will always own a smartwatch going forward. I get several notifications daily that I need, but do not need to respond to. Not having to pull my phone out to see that notification is a huge benefit!

 

[nikaru]

The big question remain: the size of the screen and if there would be two sizes for men and women. In my opinion 40mm is a sweet spot for a wrist watch for both genders. Its big enough for men and small enough for women. The size should be regulated only by wrist band which I asume would be silicon-like hard material where the bateries would be housed. Depending on the thickness of the device an iPhone 4 battery could easly fit in this kind of band separated on both sides of the watch face. As every premium watch on the market, saphire crystal is a must. Aluminium body in different colors is also an option being the gold one of them.

 

[Dave532]

Well watches, in recent times, have become more of a fashion statement.

As someone who owns a pebble, I will always own a smartwatch going forward. I get several notifications daily that I need, but do not need to respond to. Not having to pull my phone out to see that notification is a huge benefit!

I wonder if watch based notifications are the sort of thing you don't think you need until you have them? A bit like Touch ID on the iPhone, before that I never thought the lack of touch ID was really an omission, but now I find entering a PIN on other phones an unnecessary hassle.

 

[elpamyelhsa]

I wonder if watch based notifications are the sort of thing you don't think you need until you have them? A bit like Touch ID on the iPhone, before that I never thought the lack of touch ID was really an omission, but now I find entering a PIN on other phones an unnecessary hassle.

I've made the same observation and it leads me to hold back my opinion of stuff rumoured, even if it sounds dumb or overkill, until I use it. I thought of a lot of things that wouldn't work that had been rumoured eg. Fingerprint scanner, Retina iPad. But after using then I'm coming to realise maybe Apple knows how to make things work just right.

 

[sulpfiction]

The watch is gonna be so much more exciting then people are thinking. It's hard to envision something that we haven't seen and the only comparsions we have are what's currently on the market (samsung, pebble, etc).

I loved my Treo, and Blackberry at the beginning of 07. And I really didn't expect the iPhone to be that much different. Boy was I wrong. I have a feeling the watch is gonna turn the current wearable tech market upside down! And I can't friggen wait.

 

[APlotdevice]

I'd rather have a persistent ePaper display that sips battery than an OLED that I'll have to turn on constantly and will still only manage a couple days at most.

 

[filmantopia]

Apple is under a lot of pressure to prove they can dominate new product categories post-Jobs. I'm rooting for them and trust that the iWatch will be the new device that once again changes the way we understand our personal technology.

Naturally many will not 'get it' before actually seeing it, because they can't make enough of a mental leap away from what watches have always been to people. Many had the same doubts about the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad prior to release... It sounded like, "I don't need a (computer/portable media player/expensive smartphone/tablet)", and now smartwatch. However when they finally see it, or see their friends using it, they'll say "I didn't realize it would be like THAT", and commence reaching for their wallet. This will make watches a desirable, exciting thing again, and it's just hard for people to separate their mind from the current stigma around watches.

I always tell people, the engineers at Apple are extremely intelligent and highly skeptical people. They won't even bother to release a new product category if it doesn't make people completely s*** their pants. This isn't Samsung we're talking about.

 

[jctech]

iWatch list

All this iWatch talk is making me want one now! Unfortunately time is the only thing between me and the iWatch..... damn time

__________________________________
rMBP & iMac late 2013, MBP 2012 SSD, iPhone 4, iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, iPad Air & rMini, HacPro 3,1

 

[gnasher729]

So what is being said here is we still have no idea about the screen on the reported 'watch'? okay...

And people complain about the doubling down on secrecy...

We still don't even have an idea whether Apple is actually creating a new "iWatch" product or whether they just were playing a trick on Samsung.

 

[IJ Reilly]

We still don't even have an idea whether Apple is actually creating a new "iWatch" product or whether they just were playing a trick on Samsung.

We should know that Apple isn't making a "watch," and whatever they do release, it won't be called the "iWatch." Yet this short article uses these words seven times. The beat goes on. Somebody is going to be really embarrassed, and I don't think it's going to be me.

 

[GenesisJLS]

I don't understand what's the big deal. The iWatch device is going to measure heart rate, calories, and maybe something else, but that functionality has been offered for over two decades via Polar watches. Please don't tell me that the iWatch is going to upload it to the cloud. Because I'm already sick of seeing people posting how many miles/calories they have burned each day using nike+ on facebook. Just imagine the spamming of this information on your social network feeds.

 

[APlotdevice]

We still don't even have an idea whether Apple is actually creating a new "iWatch" product or whether they just were playing a trick on Samsung.

Oh come on, Apple's supply chain is more holey than a pope gunned down by the mafia while holding a block of Swiss cheese.

 

[Z8beema]

Oh come on, Apple's supply chain is more holey than a pope gunned down by the mafia while holding a block of Swiss cheese.

Well.... That was quite the analogy

 

[Karma*Police]

Naturally many will not 'get it' before actually seeing it, because they can't make enough of a mental leap away from what watches have always been to people. Many had the same doubts about the Macintosh, iPod, iPhone and iPad prior to release...

All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
- Arthur Schopenhauer

Not surprisingly, Apple's most revolutionary products went through these stages: Mac, iPhone and iPad.

 

[fertilized-egg]

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]

Image​

Apple may be choosing TPK as a touch panel supplier for its rumored iWatch, says a report in China Times (Via Digitimes). The Taiwan-based company will supposedly begin mass production of flexible AMOLED panels for the iWatch in the second half of 2014.

Aren't the title and the sentence flat out wrong? According to the article TPK will supply the touch panels but not AMOLED panels. It states the iWatch will have AMOLED panels but nowhere is it mentioned TPK will produce the said display panels

 

[Bazooka-joe]

I am sure that Apple's iWatch or iWrist or whatever they call it will be revolutionary and will be a case of "I didn't know I needed one until I saw it".
I can see an autumn release date as rumours have been so sketchy so far with no one actually knowing for sure what functionality it will deliver

 

[macnisse]

Ooo flexible!

 

[MacLC]

It'll be interesting if Apple produce a device that'll convince me that a watch is a must have.

I never liked wearing watches, even before mobile phones became commonplace. I'd rely on public clocks or time displays on machines to find out the time as I just found watches irritating on my wrist.

Before the iPhone came out I could not think how Apple could improve upon a BlackBerry but as soon as the iPhone was released everything seemed so obvious.

So I'm personally not interested in medical sensors, I'm not interested in a more convenient way to tell the time or interact with my smart phone.

Now Apple - will you make things interesting for me?

Very well put Dave. That is what one of my former teachers would call healthy skepticism. I as well have little to zero excitement about the iWatch concept and I shared that with some friends who then went off bashing the whole I idea. I reminded them how they thought iPods (later smartphones and tablets) were stupid before they got one. Of course it's "I have been wrong every time but this time I am right!"

You have
desktop > laptop > tablet > smartphone >watch> glass hole
Seems like a lot of overlap. Tablets are already cannibalizing laptop sales despite being less productive (unless you like microtransaction games). Will watches cannibalize smartphone sales? That would be my biggest fear in a world where digital devices are over-saturated.
Well no, my biggest fear would be of teachers forcing students to remove iWatches before tests then students' parents successfully suing because forced-removal of heart rate monitors is a violation of constitutional rights. Public education in the US and Europe is already nigh on meaningless.

 

[nikaru]

Very well put Dave. That is what one of my former teachers would call healthy skepticism. I as well have little to zero excitement about the iWatch concept and I shared that with some friends who then went off bashing the whole I idea. I reminded them how they thought iPods (later smartphones and tablets) were stupid before they got one. Of course it's "I have been wrong every time but this time I am right!"

You have
desktop > laptop > tablet > smartphone >watch> glass hole
Seems like a lot of overlap. Tablets are already cannibalizing laptop sales despite being less productive (unless you like microtransaction games). Will watches cannibalize smartphone sales? That would be my biggest fear in a world where digital devices are over-saturated.
Well no, my biggest fear would be of teachers forcing students to remove iWatches before tests then students' parents successfully suing because forced-removal of heart rate monitors is a violation of constitutional rights. Public education in the US and Europe is already nigh on meaningless.

Apple never intended to create a "one device fits all". The phone, the watch are things that people take with themself for decades. I use a normal watch to give me the time and I prefer it over my phone for many reason. You still need an iPhone because it is your phone, interner comunicator and ipod, all-in-one device. The watch would be an accesorry which promise to conver into a must. The only thing the tables did is to bring a biger screen device where laptop dont fit or when it dosent needed. Desktop? Como on, the sales of desktop are declining rapidly. I abandoned mine some 6 years ago and everyone are going in this direction. The desktop will stay for pro work on desk where a laptop comes short. The laptop is already a main working machine for many people and for other its already the table. If you want a Mac Pro in a tablet size with keyboard which disapear when you dont need it...well...we are still not there yet. Is there a space for a watch in our lives...I think yes. My watch is alrdy in my life, why not make it smarter.