Recent rumours suggest that the next Apple Watch will only feature upgraded hardware and some minor cosmetic changes. More significant changes are in the cards for the 2017 Apple Watch model. A new report by Digitimes now suggests that one of those changes could be that the watch’s OLED display will make way for one using microLED (or mLED) technology.
The new display panels, already in development, reportedly use technologies Apple got when it acquired US-based LuxVue Technology back in 2014. The report’s sources add that Apple opened a laboratory in northern Taiwan in April 2015 specifically to work on such new display technologies.
As the name implies, mLED displays use significantly smaller LEDs. While production costs are higher than for OLED displays, mLED ones promise richer colours with greater contrast and faster response times. They are also thinner, which could contribute to a thinner device, and use less energy, leading to longer battery life.
Development is ongoing and Apple is not expected to begin using mLED displays until the second half of 2017 at the earliest. If so, perhaps the 2017 Apple Watch (the Apple Watch 3 or Apple Watch 2 if this year’s is a 1S model) could be the first to sport this promising new technology.
It should be noted that Digitimes has a spotty record when it comes to accuracy. It recently reported that Apple was getting ready to ramp up production for a second-generation Apple Watch in Q3. It had initially reported that production was to have started this quarter.
Note: The image above is an Apple Watch concept by Peppi Kääpä.
Source : Digitimes