Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple Reportedly in Talks With PlayNitride Over Thinner and Brighter MicroLED Displays
Apple is in preliminary talks with Taiwan-based company PlayNitride over cooperation in the MicroLED market, according to DigiTimes via Micro-LED-Info.
While the report doesn't provide any further details about the potential partnership, PlayNitride has developed its own MicroLED displays called PixeLED that may be of interest to Apple for its future products. Samsung was also reportedly interested in the company back in early 2017, but no deal transpired.
PlayNitride is said to have received approval from the Taiwanese government to establish a multimillion-dollar facility at Hsinchu Science Park in northern Taiwan, where it will produce its MicroLED technologies.
Apple's interest in MicroLED displays was first reported in 2015, when it was discovered that the company opened a secretive laboratory in Taoyuan, Taiwan to research the display technology. Since then, Apple has reportedly downsized its team in Taiwan and shifted the efforts closer to its headquarters.
Last month, Bloomberg News reported that Apple has a secret facility in Santa Clara, California, near Cupertino, where it is allegedly designing and producing test samples of its own MicroLED displays. The displays are reportedly being manufactured by TSMC, which already produces A-series chips for iPhones.
MicroLED is widely considered to be Apple's next step after OLED, which it currently uses for the Apple Watch and iPhone X.
Image Credit: TrendForce
MicroLED displays have many of the same advantages as OLED displays have over LCDs, including improved color accuracy, improved contrast ratio, faster response times, and true blacks given both have self-lit pixels, but they are even thinner, much brighter, and more energy efficient than OLED panels.
Apple's use of MicroLED would likely start small, with the Apple Watch, followed by iPhones and then iPads. A recent report said Apple may even use MicroLED for its widely rumored augmented reality glasses. However, the transition away from LCDs and OLEDs is widely believed to be at least a few years away.
While the report doesn't provide any further details about the potential partnership, PlayNitride has developed its own MicroLED displays called PixeLED that may be of interest to Apple for its future products. Samsung was also reportedly interested in the company back in early 2017, but no deal transpired.
PlayNitride is said to have received approval from the Taiwanese government to establish a multimillion-dollar facility at Hsinchu Science Park in northern Taiwan, where it will produce its MicroLED technologies.
Apple's interest in MicroLED displays was first reported in 2015, when it was discovered that the company opened a secretive laboratory in Taoyuan, Taiwan to research the display technology. Since then, Apple has reportedly downsized its team in Taiwan and shifted the efforts closer to its headquarters.
Last month, Bloomberg News reported that Apple has a secret facility in Santa Clara, California, near Cupertino, where it is allegedly designing and producing test samples of its own MicroLED displays. The displays are reportedly being manufactured by TSMC, which already produces A-series chips for iPhones.
MicroLED is widely considered to be Apple's next step after OLED, which it currently uses for the Apple Watch and iPhone X.
MicroLED displays have many of the same advantages as OLED displays have over LCDs, including improved color accuracy, improved contrast ratio, faster response times, and true blacks given both have self-lit pixels, but they are even thinner, much brighter, and more energy efficient than OLED panels.
Apple's use of MicroLED would likely start small, with the Apple Watch, followed by iPhones and then iPads. A recent report said Apple may even use MicroLED for its widely rumored augmented reality glasses. However, the transition away from LCDs and OLEDs is widely believed to be at least a few years away.
Tags: Micro-LED, PlayNitride
[ 53 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
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17 months ago
This technology is the future of displays and it looks like Apple could lead.
17 months ago
Apple are not leading - this is Playnitride's technology .... not Apples's
Apple will be the leader in implementation of these displays. It will be like their lead in 3D sensing.I think it's pretty clear Apple doesn't "invent" hardware technology. That's not the point.
17 months ago
Great to hear this is moving forward. Is it too much of a stretch to expect for the next Apple Watch?
17 months ago
Apple is better off making their own displays. Quality from display manufacturing companies has been awful these years... It's just a numbers game for them now.
17 months ago
A thinner watch is probably good, but the phone seems thin enough.
What would help is longer battery life!
I wouldn't mind if my iPhone X was a little thinner and lighter.
Heck, it's even thicker than my iPhone 5s which is four years older.
Since iPhone 6, iPhones have been getting thicker with new every generation except iPhone 7.
So I really don't see where people are getting that impression that iPhones were becoming ever thinner...
17 months ago
This technology is the future of displays and it looks like Apple could lead.
Apple are not leading - this is Playnitride's technology .... not Apples's
17 months ago
Apple are not leading - this is Playnitride's technology .... not Apples's
True, BUT how fast could Apple snap up Playnitride? Ka-Ching! Easy-peasy, Grasshopper[doublepost=1522943167][/doublepost]
I wear a Diesel watch with these dimensions...
Case Size: 51 mm
Case Thickness: 12 mm
So yeah, it's big! i was hoping Apple will increase the size of their AW for me to consider buying it.
17 months ago
Yet the macs will still have LCD in 2030, mark my words.
If they will, those LCDs will be much different from what we have today. I don't think so though, that's 12 years out, microLED on Mac scale seems viable by then.
17 months ago
but if there was ever an Apple device that I think needs to be thinner, the Apple Watch would be it.
I don't get this. Guys from what I have seen are obsessed with bulky watches. Not sure why this should be different.
By the way I agree with you and I want thinner Apple Watch. Is just that most guys I have seen use masive watches.
17 months ago
The Apple watch ironically is the only Apple product that actually needs to be thinned down.
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