Apple wants to speed up the production of Micro-LED panels to replace OLED

The new iPhone X became the first iPhone in ten years to receive an OLED panel. That is, something that the competition has been using for many years. The display of the new iPhone is really good, in some foreign tests it was even rated as the best mobile display of all time. Currently, the OLED panel is also found in the Apple Watch, and as good a solution as it is, it still faces several major drawbacks. First of all, it concerns the cost of production, secondly, the physical durability of the panel as such, and last but not least, the dependence on Samsung, which is the only company that can produce panels of sufficient quality. This should change in two to three years.

The foreign server Digitimes came up with information that Apple is trying to significantly speed up the introduction of displays based on Micro-LED technology. Panels using this technology have a lot of common features with OLED screens, such as excellent color reproduction, energy consumption, contrast ratio, etc. But in addition, OLED panels are superior in some respects. Especially in terms of resistance to burning and the required thickness. In some cases, Micro-LED panels can be even more economical than OLED screens.

Currently, Apple is developing this technology in its Taiwan development center. It is working with TSMC on implementation and mass production. According to the latest information, the number of employees of this development center has decreased and there is speculation that part of the research is moving to the US. According to foreign sources, the first Micro-LED panels could reach some products (most likely the Apple Watch) in 2019 or 2020.

By using a new type of display panel, Apple would get rid of its dependence on Samsung, which in the case of the iPhone X proved to be a big problem because there was a shortage of displays. In theory, it's also possible that Apple doesn't like working with Samsung, given that they're competitors. The transition to TSMC could thus be a pleasant change, as it is not a rival in the field of smartphones, tablets and other products. Apple has been researching micro-LED technology since 2014, when it managed to acquire the company LuxVue, which deals with this issue. This acquisition was supposed to significantly help speed up development.