A recent rumor suggests that the Apple Watch from the year 2024 may be the first to have a display that was developed entirely in-house. Apple has decided to sever its ties with the company that now serves as its display provider in order to have more creative control over the process of creating its own display technology.
It has been hypothesized that after Apple has demonstrated the viability of its OLED display technology with the Apple Watch, the company would implement it in its next big product, which will most likely be the iPhone. In the meantime, though, the opulent Apple Watch will serve as a research tool in preparation for when it becomes available.
According to Bloomberg, the transition from Apple's current OLED display to the company's next Micro-LED display will begin sometime in the following year.
Mark Gurman of Bloomberg is quoted as saying that "the panels are an upgrade to the existing OLED (organic light-emitting diode) standard," and that "Apple plans to bring the displays to other devices, including the iPhone, in the future."
The fact that Samsung and LG are not able to deliver the new displays is not the reason for the move; rather, the rationale for the shift is that doing so would "give the firm more control over the design and capabilities of its devices." Apple has been keen to achieve this goal for a considerable amount of time, and the company has already shifted away from utilising Intel CPUs in its Macs in favour of utilising its own custom-designed silicon. The A5 CPU, which can be found in the iPhone and the iPad, was developed in-house by Apple.
The transition to technology based on Micro-LED should make it possible for Apple to include displays with more vibrant colours into the Apple Watch. According to one of Gurman's unnamed sources, the displays "make the material seem as though it is painted on top of the glass." It has been stated that Wei Chen, the head of Apple's display technology group, has been working on the transition away from displays manufactured by Samsung and LG since 2018. Chen works for Johny Srouji and the Hardware Technologies section of Apple, where he is responsible for the company's silicon.
