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

TPK-logoApple 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.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch 10
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Caution)

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
iPadOS 26 App Windowing

Apple Explains Why iPads Don't Just Run macOS

Friday June 13, 2025 7:46 am PDT by
iPadOS 26 allows iPads to function much more like Macs, with a new app windowing system, a swipe-down menu bar at the top of the screen, and more. However, Apple has stopped short of allowing iPads to run macOS, and it has now explained why. In an interview this week with Swiss tech journalist Rafael Zeier, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi said that iPadOS 26's new Mac-like ...
Logitech Logo Feature

Logitech Announces Two New Accessories for WWDC

Friday June 13, 2025 7:22 am PDT by
Alongside WWDC this week, Logitech announced notable new accessories for the iPad and Apple Vision Pro. The Logitech Muse is a spatially-tracked stylus developed for use with the Apple Vision Pro. Introduced during the WWDC 2025 keynote address, Muse is intended to support the next generation of spatial computing workflows enabled by visionOS 26. The device incorporates six degrees of...
iphone 16 pro models 1

17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17

Thursday June 12, 2025 8:58 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 17 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect from Apple's 2025 smartphone lineup. If you skipped the iPhone...
iOS 26 Feature

Apple Seeds Revised iOS 26 Developer Beta to Fix Battery Issue

Friday June 13, 2025 10:15 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with a revised version of the first iOS 26 beta for testing purposes. The update is only available for the iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 models, so if you're running iOS 26 on an iPhone 14 or earlier, you won't see the revised beta. Registered developers can download the new beta software through the Settings app on each device. The revised beta addresses an...
Mac Studio Feature

Apple Begins Selling Refurbished Mac Studio With M4 Max and M3 Ultra Chips at a Discount

Thursday June 12, 2025 10:14 am PDT by
Apple today added Mac Studio models with M4 Max and M3 Ultra chips to its online certified refurbished store in the United States, Canada, Japan, Singapore, and many European countries, for the first time since they were released in March. As usual for refurbished Macs, prices are discounted by approximately 15% compared to the equivalent new models on Apple's online store. Note that Apple's ...
m4 macbook air pink

Apple Now Selling Refurbished M4 MacBook Air Models

Friday June 13, 2025 3:34 pm PDT by
Apple today added M4 MacBook Air models to its refurbished store in the United States, making the latest MacBook Air devices available at a discounted price for the first time since they launched earlier this year. Both 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models are available, with Apple offering multiple capacities and configurations. The refurbished devices are discounted by approximately 15...

Top Rated Comments

mattopotamus Avatar
148 months ago
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!
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
APlotdevice Avatar
148 months ago
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.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
MacLC Avatar
148 months ago
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.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Karma*Police Avatar
148 months ago

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.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Z8beema Avatar
148 months ago
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
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dave532 Avatar
148 months ago
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?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)