A new report posted by DigiTimes today has taken a look into the micro-LED ambitions of multiple companies, including the timeline by which Apple might begin its trial production of micro-LED displays. Although it's yet to be confirmed, Apple is likely to use such display technology on a version of the Apple Watch launched in 2018 or later.

The report, citing industry sources, states that Apple's current aim is to manufacture a "small volume" of products with micro-LED displays towards the end of this year. Reports over the past few weeks have referenced similar timelines for Apple's micro-LED plans, and today's news also corroborates the location of Apple's trial production run, expected to be housed in a plant in Taoyuan, Taiwan.

apple watch 3 splash

A few makers engaged in R&D for micro LED display products, despite many technological bottlenecks, are expected to take the initiative to begin trial production in the second half of 2017 at the earliest, according to industry sources.

Apple has been keen in the development of micro LED technology following its acquisition of LuxVue in 2014, and recent market speculations also indicate that Apple is likely to crank out a small volume of micro LED display products from its plant in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan at the end of the year.

Rumors of an Apple Watch with a micro-LED display began last summer, when it was suggested that such a device may launch in 2017, but with the current reports of late-in-the-year trial productions on micro-LED displays it's likely that the 2017 "Apple Watch Series 3" will continue to use OLED technology. In regards to advantages, devices with micro-LED have the chance to be thinner, lighter, see an improved color gamut with increased brightness, and sport higher resolutions.

Apple's production on micro-LED is said to be the final realization of its acquisition of low-power microLED-based display maker LuxVue in 2014. Similarly, Samsung has been rumored to acquire micro-LED company PlayNitride, which is expected to begin a trial production on the displays sometime in the second half of 2017. Foxconn has also announced plans to acquire display startup eLux, "for development of next-generation micro-LED display technology."

Although no direct connection with Apple has been made by the manufacturers, their previous history as suppliers for the Cupertino company points toward either company, or both, as additional micro-LED suppliers for a future generation Apple Watch. According to industry sources speaking on Foxconn's eLux purchase, "The acquisition could provide a fast track for Foxconn to commercialize micro-LED technology," bringing it to a wider range of consumer products.

Related Roundup: Apple Watch Series 9
Buyer's Guide: Apple Watch (Neutral)

Top Rated Comments

Appleaker Avatar
89 months ago
I can't wait to see this in all Apple products in the future, although it'll be a very long wait.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jiggad369 Avatar
89 months ago
OLED is a big Apple gotcha to Samsung. They are going to get them to build plants and spend billions of dollars to be able to supply OLED screens for iPhones, but Apple's never had any intentions of using OLED! They'll go right to Micro LED!
Yeah it seems is if Apple wants to jump and skip right over this OLED craze.

I can wait couple more years.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Keane16 Avatar
89 months ago
mLED is really exciting tech. Hope it's commercialised in the next few years.

"Along with OLEDs ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED'), mLEDs are primarily aimed at small, low-energy devices such as smartwatches ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartwatch') and smartphones ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone'). OLED and mLED both offer greatly reduced energy requirements compared to conventional LCD systems. Unlike OLED, mLED is based on conventional GaN ('https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GaN') LED technology, which offers far higher total brightness than OLED products, as much as 30 times, as well as higher efficiency in terms of lux/W. It also does not suffer from the shorter lifetimes of OLED, although the multi-year lifespan of modern OLEDs has mitigated this issue in most roles."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MicroLED
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
goobot Avatar
89 months ago
A
Essentially, Micro-Led allows for a much brighter display, wider color gamut and eliminates Back lighting. Also, with less power draw from the display being more efficient, it helps increase the battery longevity.

I can't speak if I will ever make its way to a laptop, but it's been rumored that Apple will use micro LED with the Apple Watch in the future. Samsung is also been reportedly testing micro LED is well. Suspect it will start with smart watches and/or smart phones, for makes its way into larger scale products.
Are its blacks as good as oled?
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
kdarling Avatar
89 months ago
Essentially, Micro-Led allows for a much brighter display, wider color gamut and eliminates Back lighting. Also, with less power draw from the display being more efficient, it helps increase the battery longevity.
That is describing the advantages of xLED in general over LCD, not mLED over OLED.

What are the benefits of this new technology? Will it make its way into laptops?
Being LED, microLED has the same display advantages as OLED over LCD.

The primary difference between mLED and OLED is that the former uses inorganic LEDs, which can be brighter than organic, but are also much larger at this point except in labs.

As for using it in laptops, well maybe in another ten years.

Are its blacks as good as oled?
They're both LED tech, so they both can be turned completely off.


* I think people are misled by the term "micro" in front. It'd be more accurate and less confusing to laymen, to instead simply say ILED vs OLED (inorganic vs organic).

(It's similar to the way that many people get confused and excited over the trademark "Liquid Metal")
Sony have already released a microLED product for commercial use only, but they call it CLEDIS. It is an 8Kx2K 32'x9' display. Yes, those measurements are in feet! I think that counts as larger scale.
It's also less than 20 PPI. Even Sony's first attempt at a mLED consumer TV was only 40 PPI. The Apple Watch OLED display is 290 PPI. Not even in the same ballpark.

Ironically, that's the problem with "micro" LED right now; its pixels are larger and more difficult to manufacture, at low yield and high expense. So they tend to make smaller display modules of them and then stitch many modules into a larger display, as was done for that Sony wall display.

Eventually mLED could be mass produced in a decent resolution, but at this point... barring a breakthrough... that seems still to be years away. In the meantime, OLED is here, mature, high resolution, not expensive, and constantly improving.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
44267547 Avatar
89 months ago
What are the benefits of this new technology? Will it make its way into laptops?
Essentially, Micro-Led allows for a much brighter display, wider color gamut and eliminates Back lighting. Also, with less power draw from the display being more efficient, it helps increase the battery longevity.

I can't speak if I will ever make its way to a laptop, but it's been rumored that Apple will use micro LED with the Apple Watch in the future. Samsung is also been reportedly testing micro LED is well. Suspect it will start with smart watches and/or smart phones, for makes its way into larger scale products.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

reset password request iphone

Warning: Apple Users Targeted in Phishing Attack Involving Rapid Password Reset Requests

Tuesday March 26, 2024 4:34 pm PDT by
Phishing attacks taking advantage of Apple's password reset feature have become increasingly common, according to a report from KrebsOnSecurity. Multiple Apple users have been targeted in an attack that bombards them with an endless stream of notifications or multi-factor authentication (MFA) messages in an attempt to cause panic so they'll respond favorably to social engineering. An...
iPhone Home Screen Gradient Blank Spaces 1

Sources: iOS 18 Lets Apps Be Placed Anywhere on Home Screen Grid

Sunday March 24, 2024 1:33 pm PDT by
iOS 18 will give iPhone users greater control over Home Screen app icon arrangement, according to sources familiar with the matter. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, to ensure there is some uniformity, our sources say that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18. For example, we expect that the update will introduce...
maxresdefault

Apple Announces WWDC 2024 Event for June 10 to 14

Tuesday March 26, 2024 10:02 am PDT by
Apple today announced that its 35th annual Worldwide Developers Conference is set to take place from Monday, June 10 to Friday, June 14. As with WWDC events since 2020, WWDC 2024 will be an online event that is open to all developers at no cost. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. WWDC 2024 will include online sessions and labs so that developers can learn about new...
iPad Pro 2024 Landscape Camera Feature

New iPad Pro Again Rumored to Feature Landscape Front-Facing Camera

Monday March 25, 2024 5:43 am PDT by
The next-generation iPad Pro will feature a landscape-oriented front-facing camera for the first time, according to the Apple leaker known as "Instant Digital." Instant Digital reiterated the design change earlier today on Weibo with a simple accompanying 2D image. The post reveals that the entire TrueDepth camera array will move to the right side of the device, while the microphone will...
apple maps 3d feature

Apple Maps May Gain Custom Routes With iOS 18

Tuesday March 26, 2024 3:10 pm PDT by
Apple may be planning to add support for "custom routes" in Apple Maps in iOS 18, according to code reviewed by MacRumors. Apple Maps does not currently offer a way to input self-selected routes, with Maps users limited to Apple's pre-selected options, but that may change in iOS 18. Apple has pushed an iOS 18 file to its maps backend labeled "CustomRouteCreation." While not much is revealed...
sonoma desktop wwdc

Apple Releases macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 With Fix for USB Hub Bug

Monday March 25, 2024 10:10 am PDT by
Apple today released macOS Sonoma 14.4.1, a minor update for the macOS Sonoma operating system that launched last September. macOS Sonoma 14.4.1 comes three weeks after macOS Sonoma 14.4. The ‌‌‌‌macOS Sonoma‌‌ 14.4‌.1 update can be downloaded for free on all eligible Macs using the Software Update section of System Settings. There's also a macOS 13.6.6 release for those who...
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18 Will Finally Bring This Android Feature to iPhone

Monday March 25, 2024 6:42 am PDT by
iOS 18 will allow iPhone users to place app icons anywhere on the Home Screen grid, according to sources familiar with development of the software update. This basic feature has long been available on Android smartphones. While app icons will likely remain locked to an invisible grid system on the Home Screen, our sources said that users will be able to arrange icons more freely on iOS 18....
Generic iOS 18 Feature Purple

iOS 18: What to Expect From 'Biggest' Update in iPhone's History

Wednesday March 27, 2024 11:10 am PDT by
At least some Apple software engineers continue to believe that iOS 18 will be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Below, we recap rumored features and changes for the iPhone. "The iOS 18 update is expected to be the most ambitious overhaul of the iPhone's software in its history, according to people working on the upgrade," wrote Gurman, in a r...