Inside Apple's Secret Plan to Develop and Build its Own Screens
Apple Inc. is designing and producing its own device displays for the first time, using a secret manufacturing facility near its California headquarters to make small numbers of the screens for testing purposes, according to people familiar with the situation.
The technology giant is making a significant investment in the development of next-generation MicroLED screens, say the people, who requested anonymity to discuss internal planning. MicroLED screens use different light-emitting compounds than the current OLED displays and promise to make future gadgets slimmer, brighter and less power-hungry.
The screens are far more difficult to produce than OLED displays, and the company almost killed the project a year or so ago, the people say. Engineers have since been making progress and the technology is now at an advanced stage, they say, though consumers will probably have to wait a few years before seeing the results.
[...] Right now smartphones and other gadgets essentially use off-the-shelf display technology. The Apple Watch screen is made by LG Display. Ditto for Google's larger Pixel phone. The iPhone X, Apple's first OLED phone, uses Samsung technology. Phone manufacturers tweak screens to their specifications, and Apple has for years calibrated iPhone screens for color accuracy. But this marks the first time Apple is designing screens end-to-end itself.
MicroLEDs could have several advantages over today's OLEDs:
microLED, also known as micro-LED, mLED or µLED, is an emerging flat panel display technology. As the name implies, microLED displays consist of arrays of microscopic LEDs forming the individual pixel elements. When compared to the widespread LCD technology, microLED displays offer better contrast, response times, and energy efficiency. [...] Unlike OLED, microLED is based on conventional GaN LED technology, which offers far higher total brightness than OLED produces, as much as 30 times, as well as higher efficiency in terms of lux/W. It also does not suffer from the shorter lifetimes of OLED.
Also at 9to5Mac.
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LG Display reportedly can't meet Apple's demand for OLED screens due to manufacturing issues. This means that Apple will once again be reliant on its primary supplier and smartphone rival, Samsung:
Analysts have been warning for months that Apple is in "urgent" need of finding another iPhone OLED supplier besides Samsung. Apple currently uses Samsung's OLED displays for the company's iPhone X model. The reliance on a single supplier means Samsung controls pricing on the displays that Apple is buying — and there's no other alternative at the moment.
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Apple is reportedly working on an untethered VR-AR headset that would feature an 8K resolution per eye:
Apple has long been rumored to be working on a pair of augmented reality glasses, but a report today suggests that they're looking to compete with Google, Microsoft and Facebook in the virtual reality space as well.
CNET reports that Apple has its eye set on the 2020 release of a wireless headset that combines AR and VR technologies. The report also gives specific details for the project internally referred to as T288. Namely, sources told CNET that the headset will have an 8K display for each eye and will connect wirelessly to a dedicated "box."
One of the general assumptions many in the market had been operating under was that Apple might "skip" entertainment-focused VR altogether in favor of approaching the lifestyle-focused AR technologies that put a digital layer between users and the real world.
Apple may use its own MicroLED displays for headsets. Apple also has a patent for an eye-tracking system that could be used in a headset.
Also at The Verge, Fortune, and BGR.
The Apple Watch has found a surprisingly useful home
When the Apple Watch launched in 2015, it wasn't exactly clear who, or what, it was for. It was a phone accessory meant to curtail some of the notification anxiety the phones themselves had created by paring your digital life down to only the most essential disturbances. For many consumers, though, there wasn't a clear reason to keep wearing the watch after the initial sheen had worn off—unless they were fitness freaks, or overly concerned about their heart health. But a growing group of users have found them indispensable.
You might've noticed that the person who took your order at the bar, brought you the shoes you wanted to try on, or perhaps even patted you down at the airport security line, is sporting an Apple Watch, which starts at $329 for the newest Series 3 watch. And there's a pretty simple explanation: Many service-industry jobs where employees have to be on their feet all day don't allow workers to check their phones while they're on the clock. But that rule doesn't necessarily apply to a piece of unobtrusive jewelry that happens to let you text your friends and check the weather.
Quartz spoke with airline attendants, bartenders, waiters, baristas, shop owners, and (very politely) TSA employees who all said the same thing: The Apple Watch keeps them in touch when they can't be on their phones at work. Apple has increasingly been pushing the watch as a health device, and seems to have moved away from marketing it as one that offers more basic utility, as Apple continues do with the iPhone. But given that roughly 23% of the US labor force works in wholesale or retail operations, perhaps it's a market Apple should reconsider.
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Apple Building its Own MicroLED Displays for Eventual Use in Apple Watch and Other Products
(Score: 0, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @10:06PM (1 child)
Clearly, this is a waste of society's resources.
The world would benefit more if Apple took the resources that are being squandered on this research, and instead gave those resources to the EU to spend on welfare for imported 3rd-world genital-cutting refugees and indebted states like Greece.
Apple needs to pay its fair share.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 23 2018, @10:38AM
But they're not gay. How can Apple support something that isn't gay?
(Score: 2) by beckett on Thursday March 22 2018, @10:28PM
has anybody seen a microLED in the wild? does handle ghosting/persistent pixels better than OLED does?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 22 2018, @10:45PM
They are holding out for the best patents, something that can be extended indefinitely through small modifications...
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Thursday March 22 2018, @11:29PM
I worked for Qualcomm when they bought the MEMS display. A friend of mine ended up on the team trying to turn that into a product, some 20 years ago he said something to the effect of "when things are perfect it's awesome. When things aren't perfect it sucks". He was talking about the temperature the cellphone display was (hopefully) working in, but this sounds a lot like Apple's learning curve.
When the dust settled America realized it was saved by a porn star.