Adam Kos What is the future of displays and when will we hit the imaginary peak? LCD is behind us, OLED rules, but for how much longer? We are already hearing that micro LED is coming soon. The Apple Watch Ultra could be the first to offer them.
Currently, the OLED display is the most widespread solution among mid-range and high-end phones. It is a type of LED, but organic materials are used as an electroluminescent substance. These are placed between two electrodes, at least one of which is transparent. The technology dates back to 1987, when it was developed by Eastman Kodak. But it came to mobile phones only relatively recently, because for example the iPhone 11 still had an LCD, which if you look at it today, it looks really repulsive.
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Vratislav Holub However, we also have Mini LED panels here. They stand out not only for their higher quality but also for their better contrast ratio. In addition, they are more economical, which is essential. It is the display that draws the most energy from the device's battery, and reducing its energy requirements will logically increase the endurance itself. Apple already uses this technology not only in the 12,9" iPad Pro, but also in the 14 and 16" MacBook Pros.
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Micro LED is the music of the future, but we already know that it is not a question of if, but when it will come. After all, the first products with this technology were already introduced in 2019, but they were really very expensive TVs. In the case of Micro LED, it is logically a matter of miniaturization, to a hundredth of the size of existing LEDs. The result is control of image brightness at the level of individual points, so that each point can emit its own light, which does not need any backlight and does not need any organic materials like OLED. In addition, the technology adds the advantages of LCD, such as long life and high brightness. Last but not least is the response, which here is in the order of nanoseconds, not milliseconds like OLEDs. As you can probably guess, the main disadvantage is the price.
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The first swallow will be the Apple Watch Ultra
Rumors are growing that the Apple Watch Ultra will switch to this latest generation of display technology as early as 2025. And it makes sense, since they have the smallest display of any Apple product. These displays should be supplied by LG to Apple. Furthermore, the technology should expand through iPhones, iPads and even MacBooks, but this may take as long as 10 years.
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After all, Apple is not exactly a leader in deploying new technologies. When it introduced the iPhone X with OLED displays, the competition already took them for granted. In particular, Samsung could overtake it precisely because it has its own display division, and therefore it would be easy for it to adjust the technology to future Galaxy phones. LG is out of the game in this one because they have cut their phones.
There aren't any rumors that we'll be seeing Micro LED smartphones or computers right now, but it's clearly the future of where companies want to go. Whoever is first may then have a slight advantage, although it is probably not possible to count on customers to only hear about which display technology is used by which brand. After all, they choose rather according to other parameters. However, most are still waiting for the technology to become less expensive and more affordable, because otherwise there is not much point in putting it in phones. But the watch market could show that it is possible and, above all, how much it costs.
