According to reports from 9to5Mac, Apple’s next Watch will look a little different than its predecessor, thanks to a new display technology called Micro LED. This emerging tech offers some substantial advantages over more common OLED screens, although they also come at a higher price. Let’s take a look.
Micro LED screens provide better brightness levels and colour ranges than OLED, making them a good choice for the Apple Watch 2. They also don’t need a backlight, making them thinner than OLED or LCD displays. Best of all, they’re also more energy-efficient, which is a must-have for any platform with an always-on display and a tiny battery.
However, Micro LED screens are also more expensive to produce, which could lead the Apple Watch 2 to cost more than its predecessor. They’re also quite limited in size at the moment; 1 inch is doable, but a full smartphone screen is still some way off. Apple acquired a Micro LED development company, LuxVue, two years ago — perhaps 2017 is when that acquisition will bear fruit.
It’ll be interesting to see if this particular rumour proves true. I can definitely see the logical behind the move, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will actually happen. We’ll just have to wait and see; Apple’s next Watch isn’t expected until 2017 so we have quite some time to hear more rumours and hopefully get some concrete evidence at some point too.