Foxconn Reportedly Investing in MicroLED Display Tech for Future iPhones

iphone x oledFoxconn is broadening investment in MicroLED display technology in a bid to win orders from Apple for future iPhones, according to a report from the Chinese-language Economic Daily News (via DigiTimes).

MicroLED is widely considered to be Apple's next step after OLED, which it currently uses for the Apple Watch and iPhone XS. MicroLED displays have many of the same advantages that OLED displays have over LCDs, including improved color accuracy, improved contrast ratio, faster response times, and true blacks – given both have self-lit pixels.

However MicroLED displays are thinner, brighter, and more energy efficient than OLED panels. MicroLED displays also have inorganic gallium nitride-based LEDs, which have a longer lifespan than the organic compound used in OLED displays and should make them more resistant to burn-in issues.

Apple's interest in MicroLED was first reported in 2014, when it acquired MicroLED display maker LuxVue. The following year it was discovered that the ‌iPhone‌ maker had also opened a secretive laboratory in Taoyuan, Taiwan to research display technologies like OLED and MicroLED for future devices.

In 2017, the company reportedly scaled back its efforts at that center, possibly switching to a facility closer to home: Apple is believed to have a secretive manufacturing plant in Santa Clara, California, where it is designing and producing display test samples using MicroLED technology.

microled vs oled vs lcd

Image Credit: TrendForce

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is understood to be providing support for producing smaller form factor applications, which could include future Apple Watch models and AR wearables. Apple has also reportedly had preliminary talks with Taiwan-based company PlayNitride over cooperation in the MicroLED market.

It will likely be a few years before MicroLED displays appear in Apple products – perhaps one year for the Apple Watch and two to four years for the ‌iPhone‌ – once MicroLED displays can be mass produced both reliably and affordably.

When that time comes, Apple will likely outsource full-scale production of the displays, and Foxconn is clearly planning to pick up at least some of the business, if today's report is anything to go on.

Popular Stories

iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

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

Saturday June 21, 2025 2:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are around three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices from credible sources. 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...
iPhone 16 Battery Life Feature

iOS 26's New Battery Life Mode Available Only on These iPhone Models

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:02 am PDT by
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode. Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer." The full description of...
All Screen iPhone 2027 Feature 1

iPhone Reportedly Moving to All-Screen Design in Two Stages

Sunday June 22, 2025 3:58 pm PDT by
Apple has long been working towards an iPhone with an all-screen design, and it might finally achieve the feat in a few more years from now. In his Power On newsletter today, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said that Apple will shrink the size of the Dynamic Island on new iPhone models released next year. A year after that, he expects Apple to release a redesigned 20th-anniversary iPhone model....
iOS 26 Feature

Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 2

Monday June 23, 2025 2:57 pm PDT by
Apple provided developers with the second beta of iOS 26, introducing the first changes and refinements to the new operating system since it debuted after the WWDC keynote. Because we're early in the beta testing process, there are quite a few tweaks to iOS 26, which we've rounded up below. Control Center The background behind the Liquid Glass Control Center buttons has more blur, allowing...
ios 26 control center b2

iOS 26 Beta 2 Fixes Control Center Design

Monday June 23, 2025 10:58 am PDT by
With the second beta of iOS 26 that Apple provided to developers today, Apple addressed one of the major complaints that people have had with Liquid Glass. iOS 26 beta 1 on left, iOS 26 beta 2 on right The Control Center buttons are now slightly more opaque, making it easier to see the different control options even on a multicolored background. The new, more opaque look is apparent with the ...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro's Alleged Vapor Chamber Cooling System Partly Revealed

Sunday June 22, 2025 6:37 am PDT by
Apple's upcoming iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max models are rumored to be equipped with a vapor chamber cooling system, and a leaker known as Majin Bu today shared a photo of an alleged copper thermal plate for the system. Many high-end Android smartphones like Samsung's Galaxy S25 Ultra are equipped with a vapor chamber cooling system, which can manage heat dissipation inside the...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adding Two New Wi-Fi Features, Allows AirDrop and AirPlay Alternatives

Saturday June 21, 2025 7:02 am PDT by
iOS 26 is gaining two new Wi-Fi features, including Captive Assist and Wi-Fi Aware. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered a reference to Captive Assist within the code for the first iOS 26 developer beta, but Apple has yet to enable the feature. It should be available by the time the software update is released later this year. In his Power On newsletter last month, Bloomberg's...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

iOS 26 Includes These Five Smaller Features You Might Have Missed

Saturday June 21, 2025 11:18 am PDT by
While the dust is beginning to settle on the first iOS 26 beta, we continue to take a closer look at new features coming with the update. Below, we recap five smaller changes that you might have missed. Emoji Game Apple News+ subscribers in the U.S. and Canada can play a new Emoji Game, which tasks players with completing words and phrases with emoji. This is the fifth game that is...
airpods 4 blue

Apple Offering Free AirPods — Here's How to Get Them

Tuesday June 17, 2025 6:33 am PDT by
Apple is running a new promotion that offers free AirPods to qualifying customers. Now through September 30, college and university students in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Singapore can receive free AirPods 4 when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. AirPods Pro 2 are also available at a discount. If you do not want AirPods, the promotion also offers various other...

Top Rated Comments

44267547 Avatar
80 months ago
This technology is what I’m really anticipating and hoping from Apple for the Watch and iPhone. The direct advantages being, it has a [higher resolution over OLED, increased brightness two/three times over OLED and improved color gamut.] In terms of displays, this is the ‘Next big thing.’
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AirunJae Avatar
80 months ago
I'm just here for the MacRumours Forum to tell me how this will be a bad thing.

$2k phones will be the regular cost of micro led phones
Oh, there it is.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
80 months ago
Samsung is the only manufacturer that actually sells a consumer MicroLED product right now. So, it makes sense that Samsung will dominate MicroLED mobile displays. They're pretty much the goto OEM for all display tech and storage tech.
What Samsung sells is large panel mLED. It isn't the same as small panel mLED. Expertise in one area is no guarantee of expertise in another. Think LG and their large panel OLED TV's. They're great. Their small OLED phone panels... not so much. I don't doubt Samsung will be a big player in mLED, but I doubt they will dominate it like they did OLED. Samsung was primarily the driving force in OLED. mLED has numerous players vying to be a force in an arena with a fairly level playing field. None of those players want to be beholden to one vendor.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
69Mustang Avatar
80 months ago
Why is Foxconn (an assembler) investing in display tech? Are they trying to build displays?
Foxconn isn't just an assembler. Foxconn is a contract manufacturer. They have mutiple subsidiaries involved in display tech.
Yeah because right now large microled screens are easier to build that smaller ones but you can be sure Samsung is working on adapting this tech for smartphones screens as well. They are currently the only ones showing and selling something that it's using microled tech, a very important detail.
As I said, I don't doubt Samsung will be a big player in mLED. They just won't be what they are in OLED. For a lot of OLED's history, Samsung essentially had no competition and it allowed them to dominate. That isn't true for mLED. Lots of players are vying for a seat at the mLED table... Apple being one of them.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
squizzler Avatar
80 months ago
Great excuse for a price hike.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cmaier Avatar
80 months ago
I thought OLED was the future.
it was. Future is funny that way. It leaves everything else in the past.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)