It was reported earlier this year that Apple cancelled plans for a micro-LED Apple Watch, finding them too difficult to produce in the quantities that would be needed.

Display supplier LG was set to make a key component for this display, and is now said to be seeking compensation for the cancellation of the project …

Apple’s move toward micro-LED
Apple is so still to complete its transition to its third display technology, OLED:

• Originally, it used LCD with conventional backlighting
• Then it moved on to LCD with mini-LED backlighting
• The Apple Watch, iPhone, and latest iPads currently use OLED
• With MacBooks to follow

Apple is already looking ahead to an even more advanced display tech, however, known as micro-LED. This offers even brighter displays with greater color accuracy, longevity, and power efficiency, and without the burn-in weakness of OLED.

micro-LED Apple Watch cancellation
As with OLED before it, the usual approach would be to start with the smallest screens and work upwards from there. That would have a micro-LED Apple Watch lead the way, almost certainly an Ultra model with a premium price.

Long-term, that’s likely still the plan, but Apple appears to have decided it needs a slower pace. Its current plans to launch a micro-LED Apple Watch were reportedly cancelled earlier this year.

For all their benefits, microLED screens were difficult to produce in sufficient quantities. Manufacturing them required cutting-edge technology and a complicated process called LED transfers — the placing of pixels in the display. Though Apple owned the design and manufacturing process for the microLED screens, it enlisted a number of partners to handle mass production and tasks like LED transfers.

LG reportedly seeking compensation
Display partner LG was set to produce the backplanes for the Apple Watch displays. This is the transistor array which switches the individual pixels on and off.

From what we understand, Apple didn’t get as far as placing any orders with LG, but it did give the Korean company enough confidence in its plans to spend more than a million dollars gearing up for production. The Elec reports that the company is now seeking compensation from Apple.

LG Display was found to have requested compensation from Apple for the suspension of the micro-LED Apple Watch development project in the first half of this year […]

It is known that the amount invested by LG Display to carry out the micro LED backplane process is more than tens of billions of won (upwards of $1.5M) considering the opportunity cost.

In the second half of 2022, LG Display moved some of its equipment from Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk-do to Paju, Gyeonggi-do. This was the time when the micro-LED Apple Watch development plan was taking shape. LG Display has set up a task force (TF) in Paju, securing space for the micro LED backplane process, and recruiting manpower. Several LG Display equipment partners also prepared to deliver the equipment at the same time.

While there appears to be no strict legal liability, the report suggests that a likely outcome is that Apple will increase the price it pays to LG for OLED displays for iPhones and iPads as a form of compensation for the loss. It’s in the iPhone maker’s interest to keep its suppliers at least reasonably happy.

Photo by Ricardo Resende on Unsplash

TrendForce 2024 Micro LED Market Trend and Technology Cost Analysis
Release: 31 May / 30 November 2024
Language: Traditional Chinese / English
Format: PDF
Page: 160-180