Apple Reportedly Investing Over $300M in New Taiwanese Factory to Produce Mini-LED and Micro-LED Displays

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Apple plans to invest around NT$10 billion (US$334 million) towards the opening of a new factory at the Hsinchu Science Park in Taiwan, according to a Chinese report in the Economic Daily News. English coverage is available at Focus Taiwan.

mac ipad pro side by side
The report claims that Apple will use the factory to produce Mini-LED and Micro-LED displays for future devices, in partnership with Taiwan-based suppliers Epistar and AU Optronics. In March, analyst Ming-Chi Kuo said Apple is planning at least six Mini-LED products for release by the end of 2021, including 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, an iMac Pro, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro, a 10.2-inch iPad, and a 7.9-inch ‌iPad‌ mini.

Kuo has previously said that Mini-LED backlit displays will allow for thinner and lighter product designs, while offering many of the same benefits of OLED displays used on the latest iPhones, including high contrast and dynamic range.

Apple already has a Mini-LED and Micro-LED research and development facility at the same research park, built in 2014.

Tags: Micro-LED, Mini-LED Guide

Top Rated Comments

sublunar Avatar
sublunar
16 months ago

care to elaborate?
OLED's downfall is in screen burn in. Phones don't really suffer from this as the small panels generally aren't on for hours at a time. TVs and monitors can suffer when they are on for hours at a time with on screen graphics in the same place all the time - examples include the digital on screen graphics such as the CNN logo or Mac toolbar elements which can relatively quickly burn into the screen.

The cost of OLED panels are prohibitive.

And the O in OLED is organic - which means they will decay over time.

I found a nice primer ('https://medium.com/hd-pro/understanding-oled-qled-mini-led-microled-dont-be-misled-30520b686fcb') out there to bring you up to speed with everything else.

This is why Apple are moving direct to mini LED over OLED with an eye on micro LED when that drops in price.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
lunarworks Avatar
lunarworks
16 months ago

OLED was always flawed tech from the very start. I'm trying to avoid it as much as I can. MicroLED is where the future is for now.
So whilst we wait for that I'll take miniLED over OLED any day.
Yup. OLED is really cool tech with major advantages over LCD, but the burn-in is an unavoidable problem. MicroLED has all the advantages of OLED without the burn-in, and I can't wait for it to reach the mass market.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Aston441 Avatar
Aston441
16 months ago

Isn't OLED better than miniLED? Why aren't they investing in OLED
OLED is, always has been, and always will be garbage. You've been captured by marketing. You can still break free!
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
fokmik Avatar
fokmik
16 months ago
mini-led is nothing compared to the micro-led and how hard is to get those pixels down in dimensions to fit even an imac or macbook
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sublunar Avatar
sublunar
16 months ago
Interesting how the iMac Pro is mentioned but none of the non-Pro iMacs are mentioned (not even the supposedly forthcoming 23" panel) and yet the basic iPad and iPad mini are mentioned.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sublunar Avatar
sublunar
16 months ago

Seems like they're standing up new tech for the display, so its just going to be in a few (somewhat smaller) items at first. The iMacs might get it down the line.
My thinking here is that the forthcoming (already complete) iMac update might be enough to see it through till October 2021. Suggests a very light update indeed - akin to the treatment that the Mac mini got perhaps?
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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