Joe Rossignol
Earlier this week, Apple supplier OSRAM announced it would “rethink its microLED strategy” after a “capstone project” was “unexpectedly cancelled.” Display supply chain consultants Counterpoint Research told MacRumors that the project is linked to rumors of an Apple Watch with a microLED display.
Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo commented on the matter today, saying that Apple has indeed canceled the project for the “foreseeable future.” The analyst said microLED production costs are currently “too high” for the project to be “economically viable.”
“My latest survey shows that Apple has canceled Micro LED Apple Watch projects because Apple believes that Micro LEDs cannot add value to this product, and manufacturing costs are too high to make it economically viable,” Kuo said.
ams OSRAM was the exclusive supplier of Apple LED chips for this project at the time of its implementation. was cancelled, according to Kuo. Apple has “no plans” to mass produce microLED devices in the “foreseeable future,” the analyst said.
Kuo called the cancellation a “major setback” for Apple and said many employees associated with microLED development were discontinued.
While the project may be shelved for now, Apple is likely still hoping to eventually move to microLED technology in the future. Taiwanese research firm TrendForce said today that while AMS OSRAM was Apple's “sole chip supplier” for the Apple Watch Ultra project, Taiwan and South Korea have a “robust pipeline of Micro LED chip manufacturers, backplanes and associated data transfer processes.” — other suppliers that Apple might partner with in the future. Either way, it looks like Apple's first microLED device is a few years away.
Related Review: Apple Watch Ultra 2 Tags: microLED Apple Watch Guide, Ming-Chi Kuo, TrendForce Buyers Guide: Apple Watch Ultra (Buy Now )Related forum: Apple Watch[ 53 comments ]
