It was first reported that Apple was interested in micro-LED displays back in 2015. These displays offer some of the same perks that OLED displays offer compared to LCDs. There’s better color accuracy, faster response times, and improved contrast ratio courtesy of self-lit pixels. They can also be thinner, brighter, and more power efficient than OLED panels. According to a new report, Apple is now aiming to mass produce micro-LED displays.
According to a new report, Apple is collaborating with its Taiwan-based supplier TSMC to address the bottlenecks that have prevented the mass production of micro-LED displays. Once these manufacturing issues are solved, it will be possible for the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company to start volume production of these panels.
It’s only after the micro-LED panels can be mass produced reliably and affordably that we can start to see them in Apple devices. It’s expected that the company will first introduce its micro-LED displays with the Apple Watch possibly in 2019. It may be adopted for the iPhone after that.
Not only will this next-generation display technology deliver improved performance and cost savings for Apple, but it’s also going to help the company reduce its reliance on rival Samsung for display panels.
Since Samsung is the largest manufacturer of small-to-medium OLED panels, Apple had no choice but to source the iPhone X’s OLED display from Samsung. Shifting to micro-LED displays will certainly help Apple to not fill its rival’s pockets.
Filed in . Read more about Oled.