2017’s iPhone 8 will be the first iPhone to boast an OLED display, but Apple’s not stopping it research into future display technologies.
According to a new report, Apple will be producing a small number of trial micro LED screens in the second half of 2017 at a factory in Taoyuan, Taiwan. While this isn’t the kind of production volume necessary for a product, it will give Apple the ability to evaluate whether or not these would be a good fit for future devices.
Compared with LCD displays, micro LEDs have the advantage of lower power consumption, high levels of brightness, ultra high definition, high color saturation, faster response rate, longer lifetimes and higher efficiency.
This isn’t the first time Apple has explored the possibilities of micro LED displays. Back in 2014, it acquired LuxVue Technology, a small California-based company that specializes in “micro LED-based displays for consumer electronics applications.”
LuxVue came with several patents related to micro LED technology. At the time, it was reported that Google was interested in using micro LEDs for its second-generation Google Glass headset.
While this didn’t up happening, it’s interesting that the timing of this report comes when Apple is allegedly busy working on augmented reality technology of its own — possibly including a future headset. Apple supposedly has hundreds of engineers developing both AR and VR headsets. It also scooped up a number of augmented-reality companies such as Metaio and hired some big names in VR and AR.
Whether today’s report ultimately amounts to anything remains to be seen. However, it’s definitely good news that Apple is keen to stay on the cutting edge of display technologies.
Source: Digitimes
