Apple will introduce Micro-LED displays to the Apple Watch in 2024, according to a new report.
The rumor has been reported by Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, and states that in late 2024, Apple will begin swapping from OLED to its own in-house Micro-LED technology.
The rumor of a move to Micro-LED has been on the cards since 2019, but it feels like a more realistic timeframe. Apple bought a Micro-LED company LuxVue in 2014, and a decade later, it seems the acquisition could come to fruition.
Apple has been slowly moving towards building its own components, to reduce reliance on third-party suppliers.
Macs largely run on its own M2 chip, and this week has also seen rumors that the company is seeking to produce its own wireless tech too.
But what’s the big deal about Micro-LED anyway?
Micro-LED offers better visuals, allowing for superior power consumption and thinner devices – enabling a new generation of Apple devices.
While the technology isn’t new, manufacturing them hasn’t been easy – and has required significant miniaturization to get them to market, according to a report by IDTechEx.
It seems that the Apple Watch Ultra 2 could be the first to get the new technology, presumably in September 2024. Whether that means we’ll see an annual update cycle, or whether we’ll have to wait two years for a new device, remains to be seen.
As ever, it’s all rumor and conjecture so far. But it plays into Gurman’s own predictions that 2023 will be a quiet year for Apple Watch, with minimal hardware changes.
As ever, watch this space.
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James is the co-founder of Wareable, and he has been a technology journalist for 15 years.
He started his career at Future Publishing, James became the features editor of T3 Magazine and T3.com and was a regular contributor to TechRadar – before leaving Future Publishing to found Wareable in 2014.
James has been at the helm of Wareable since 2014 and has become one of the leading experts in wearable technologies globally. He has reviewed, tested, and covered pretty much every wearable on the market, and is passionate about the evolving industry, and wearables helping people achieve healthier and happier lives.